A Forum First

     Between 1968 and 1999 the premier indoor sports facility in the greater Los Angeles area was a building simply known as The Forum. Throughout its years The Forum was also known as the Fabulous Forum. After December 1988 the building became known as the Great Western Forum as a local bank had purchased naming rights to it.
    When did it all begin, travel now back to December 30, 1967 when the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League opened the building with a hockey game against the Philadelphia Flyers. The first two hockey goals were scored by the Flyers and the Kings had to wait another night to score their first goal in the building. They following night, the Lakers took their turn to play in the new digs, taking on the San Diego Rockets. The Lakers celebrated their opening by romping over their visitors by a score of 147-118.
   Although the Kings and Lakers had left the Los Angeles Sports Arena, that building was never allowed to fall into desrepair. It remained a very active participate in the local sports and entertainment scene to this very day. The Forum today was its location in suburban Inglewood has not been so lucky since its replacement by the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles. It does still host some events but, not like it did in its heyday.
  Tommorrow we will look at the legendary Ice Bowl game played on the very same day the San Diego Rockets first traveled to the once Fabulous Forum. 

Bonus Blog I

   I have tried to entertain you my reader with a look back at historical sporting events many of which made national sports headlines. Today I ask you my reader to tell me about a historical sporting event that you attended and what was it like.
   Before you get a chance to ask me, I will tell you of my most historical game. I shall take you back to July 11, 1989 and Baseballs' mid summer classic, the All-Star Game. My Dad and one of his friends had purchased season tickets just so they could get good seats to the game. When something else came up out of town, I graciously offered Dad the opportuntiy to pass his ticket to me. He reluctantly took my money and gave me the ticket. I arrived at the stadium just as the pre game entertainment was clearing the field. I quickly noticed the ushers were all dressed in tuxs. As the bottom of the first inning rolled around, I began to remark to my Dads friend "This is great cheering for people we normally would not cheer for". I continued on "Come on Bo hit a....whoa Thats Gone!!" Before I could let out a cheer for Kansas City Royals outfielder and American League leadoff hitter Bo Jackson, he had hit a line drive 440 feet that quickly left the park. The drive, which I think was on the first pitch to him had no hang time, a moment on the bat, the next one on an embankment well over the centerfield fence. Jackson would homer again his second time up and go on to win the games MVP trophy. It was a most enjoyable experience, Thanks Bo, Thanks Dad and Thanks Gene, rest in peace. 
   It is now your turn, lets hear your story. Come on dont be shy:)

The Spark that started a Baseball War

The first professional baseball league in the Pacific Northwest played its first season in 1890. Almost immediately talk began regarding the formation of one super league for the West Coast and a merger with the California League. By the end of the 1893 both leagues folded with any kind of a merger as the country was plunged deep into a recession, sound familiar? Although the two leagues came back to the playing field in 1898, the boys in the Northwest were not able to get back to firm footing until 1901.
   Rumors flourished thoughout the next two seasons that a merger was in the works. As the California League season ended in early December, the rumors intensified. On December 29, 1902 the California League announced thats four clubs had admitted teams from Seattle and Portland. They also had changed their name to the Pacific Coast League. What had happened was the Portland Club from the Pacific Northwest League had jumped as a whole to the new league. The Pacific Coast League had hijacked the Seattle ballpark by signing a lease of their own and installing a new owner. A war had begun.
    By the time the season opened the following spring, the Pacific Northwest League invaded San Francisco and Los Angeles. They too changed their name to the Pacific National League. In  mid August the PNL boys had to to cry uncle and admit the PCL boys were the better of the two leagues.
     The Pacific Coast League has played in every season since, almost reaching major league status. Its history has stretched from Indianapolis, Indiana to Honolulu, Hawaii. Today the league rans from the Coast into Tennessee. Today the Northwest League plays a 70 schedule from late June to Labor Day. Many NWL players go on to the play in the PCL as frequently the leagues in the Pacific Northwest were used as farm clubs for the PCL.
   Tomorrow we will stay on the West Coast with a look at the Forum in Inglewood, California.         

The Greatest Game Ever Played

    On December 28, 1958 the Baltmore Colts, led by quarterback Johnny Unitas traveled to Yankee Stadium, "The House That Ruth Built" to met the New York Giants for the National Football Leagues championship. What happened that day was what has frequently been called by fans as "The Greatest game ever played". Both teams had 9-3 records in regular season play.
    The Giants struck first with a 36 yard field goal late in the first quarter. The Colts however owned the second quarter and took a 14-3 lead into the locker room at the half. In the third quarter the Colts threatened to put the game out of reach driving all the way down to the Giants one yard line before losing the ball on downs at the five yard line. Four plays later the Giants pulled within four points with a touchdown of their own. The Giants scored again early in the fourth quarter to take the led by three. The Colts ended up the ball on their own 14 yard line and two minutes to go. Unitas then showed the world what a 2 minute drill was, driving the ball all the way down to the Giants 13 yard line setting up a 20 yard field goal to tie the game.
   The game became the first to require overtime to find a winner. The Colts on their first possession drove the ball 80 yards to set up a one yard touchdown run to win the game and the championship. The two teams would meet again the following year for another championship game. Of those involved with the game 17 went on to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. If the game had been played by the coaching staff the Giants,who had Tom Landry as their defensive coordinator and Vince Lombardi as their offensive coordinator, would have won easily.
  As promised tomorrow we will look at a Baseball War.
 

A Day With the College Bowl Games

   Now that College Bowl game season is in full season, it time for us to take a look at one day of its history.
   Our December 27th look begins with 1952 when Sam Houston State beat Northeastern State 41-20 in the only Shrimp Bowl game ever played. The game was played at Galveston, Texas.
   We jump ahead to 1971 when Arizona State hosted Florida State at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe in the first Fiesta Bowl Game ever played. The Sun Devils won the game by a score of 45-38. 
   Exactly four years later, on Dececmber 27, 1975 at New Orleans; Louisiana Southern University beat South Carolina State 15-12 in the last Pelican Bowl game ever played.
  Finally on December 27, 2002 at Reliant Stadium, Houston, Texas; Oklahoma State beat Southern Mississippi State by a score of 33-23 in the first Houston Bowl game to be played. The Texas Bowl is considered by many to be a name change from this game.
   This year 35 bowl games will be played over a 3.5 week period, we will have more days like this one in the next few days as well over a 100 differently named bowl games have been played since the first bowl game was played in 1902. Tomorrow we will however go back to the NFL and take historical look at one of their games. On Tuesday baseball will show us the beginning of one of its famous wars. On Wednesday we will look at the opening of the Forum in Inglewood, California and on Friday a look at the famous Ice Bowl game.                       
    

A Japanese Baseball First

    By Christmas of 1934, five countries had a professional baseball history and active leagues playing. Those countries were the United States, Canada, Mexico, Cuba and the Dominican Republic. The small but growing club was about to grow by one. On December 26, 1934 the Toyko Kyogin Professional Baseball Club was formed.  Although there were not enough clubs formed in Japan between that time and the following spring, a year later there were and a six club league began play. A rough first decade ensued as World War 2 made growth a very big challedge for the league. The Kyogin Club later changed their name to the Yomiuri Giants and has gone on to great sucess in the league.
    In the last thirty years three other Asian countries have joined the group with leagues of their own, those countries being South Korea, the Peoples' Republic of China and Taiwan. Since the founding of the Japanese League, two European and five Latin countries have aalso joined the group as well as one from down under. The other countries being Australia, Columbia, Holland, Italy, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico and Venezuela. All of the countries have had their struggles through the years, several countries are not fielding leagues at the moment. This collection of countries has done a very good job of promoting the game on a world wide basis allowing the baseballs version of the World Cup to be a great success.
   Tomorrow we look at first look at the December 27th history of college bowl games.      

A Very Long Football Game

    On Saturday December 25, 1971 The NFL opened its post season with two games scheduled to be played. The Miami Dolphins traveled to Kansas City to play the Chiefs in an AFC Divisional Playoff Game and the Dallas Cowboys traveled to Minnesota to take on the Vikings in a NFC Divisional Playoff Game.
  In the game at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, the Cowboys took full advantage of Viking turnovers to remove them from their path to the SuperBowl and the league championship trophy. The Cowboys opponent in the SuperBowl had a much tougher time with the Chiefs requiring a record effort to advancing on.
   The Dolphins-Chiefs game was the last game to be played by the Chiefs at Municipal Stadium, before they opened Arrowhead Stadium the following summer. The two teams played quite evenly in the first 4 quarters. The Chiefs jumped off to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter. The Dolphins answered with a 10-0 quarter of their own in the second quarter of play. The teams went into the locker room with a 10-10 tie. The teams traded 7-7 quarters in the second half to send the game into a historical showdown in overtime. After the first 15 minutes of overtime, the teams remained tied. Both kickers had missed field goals during the period. At the 7:40 mark of the second overtime period Gero Yepremian of the Dolphins kicked a 37 yard field goal to end the game and the Chiefs season as well as their stay at Municipal Stadium. WOW!!
   Tomorrow we look at a Japanese baseball first.  

One Great Football Game

    On December 24, 1950 the Cleveland Browns met the Los Angeles Rams at Municipal Stadium in Cleveland in one of the greatest football games ever played. The Browns who had just finished its first season in the National Football League after spending their first four years in the All-American Football Conference, were lead by future Hall of Famer Otto Graham. The Rams who had just finished its fifth season in Los Angeles after being founded in Cleveland, were lead by Bob Waterfield who himself wasa future Hall of Famer.
   In the first quarter the Rams jumped off to a 14-0 lead before the Browns were able to score a touchdown of their own. In the second quarter the Browns lone score pulled them within one point of the Rams at the half. The Browns scored first in the third quarter to give them their first lead of the game before the Rams came storming back with two touchdowns to grab a 28-20 lead with but one quarter left to play. From here it was all Browns, a touchdown and a field goal sealed the game for the Browns.
  The two teams would met again for the championship the following year in Los Angeles. Tomorrow we look at another great football game. 

A Little Wild Hockey

    Today, we promised the hockey fans in the group a day. We travel back to December 23, 1967 when the Portland Buckaroos were quite unwelcoming to the San Diego Gulls, in taking a 13-1 win from the Gulls.
  From there we go to December 23, 1978 when the New York Islanders Bryan Trottier had 5 goals and 3 assists. Trottier had a hat trick and 6 points during the second period of the Islanders win over their crosstown rivals the Rangers.
  Exactly 7 years later in 1985 the Rangers observed the anniversary by taking it out on the Detroit red Wings taking a 10-2 victory their visitors.
  On December 23, 1990 the Buffalo Sabres thought they had issued a bad beating to the Quebec Nordiques when they beat their visitors by a 10-3 score. However, the Richmond Renegades of the East Coast Hockey League put their mark in the league recordbook with a 15-5 beating of the Erie Panthers.
    Finally, on December 23, 2000 at the Britt Brown Arena in Wichita, Kansas, the Wichita Thunder of the Central Hockey League stormed on to a 12-0 win over the Border City Bandits. In Fayetteville, North Carolina at the Crown Coliseum the Memphis RiverKings made themselves at home with an 11-5 win over the Fayetteville Force.
   Tomorrow we will start a two look at two legendary football games. Meanwhile sports fans take a look at Jayson Starks column at ESPN.com. Stark takes his end of the year look at the strangest events in baseball during the 2010 season, I highly recommend it. I also highly recommend my readers leave comments or write me at sabrkev@gmail.com.
  Have a great day sports fans, may all your teams win today!!   

Now That is Offensive Football

On December 22, 1963 The Houston Oilers with George Blanda as quarterback traveled to Frank Youell Field in Oakland, California to met the Oakland Raiders and their quarterback Tom Flores. If fans wanted to see a low scoring game they were in the wrong place. Things did not look dood for the home team when they failed to record a first down in the first quarter, they only bright spot in the quarter was a 68 yard punt return for a touchdown by Claude Gibson.
  The Raiders got things rolling much better in the second quarter, ending the half sharing a 35-35 tie with their visitors. Things calming down a bit in the third quarter with the Oilers scoring two of three toouchdowns to reclaim a 7 point lead with one quater left to play. Unfortunately for Blanda and his team nothing happened offensivly in the final quater as the raiders scored 10 unanswered points in the quarter to take a 52-49 win. Raider end Art Powell caught four touchdown passes and kicker Mike Mercer kicked a 39 yard field goal to win the game with 4:37 left to play. You certianly dont see to many games in outdoor football where a team scores 49 points and still loses.
   Tomorrow we are looking at another Hockey day. That will be followed by two days of great football games.    

Did the Game ever End?

    On December 21, 1981 The Cincinnati Beatcats basketball team traveled to Peoria, Illinois to play the Bradley Braves at the Robertson Memorial Fieldhouse. When regulation ended with the two teams tied at 61-61, the fans had no idea what a treat that they were in for. Each overtime period came and went without the contest being resolved. After six overtimes the game was tied at 73-73. An NCAA record seventh overtime period would determine this one. A single basket scored by the Bearcats Doug Schloemer with one second left clinched the game for the visitors and a 75-73 win.
   Tomorrow lets take a look at an American Football League game with lots of scoring. Have a great Tuesday everyone!! 

A Very Big Finish

    On December 20, 1967, the Seattle SuperSonics welcomed the Philadelphia '76ers to the Washington State Coliseum for only their 13th home game at WSC and their 35th franchise game ever. It would be the 5th time the two teams faced each other. On this particular day the SuperSonics were thinking four would have been enough.
  The two teams played evenly matched during the first half with the visitors heading into the locker room at the half with a 65-59 lead. The home  team never had a chance in the second half. The '76ers led by Wilt Chamberlain scored 42 points in the third quarter and a record 53 points in the fourth quarter./ Thats right 95 points in the second half!! The Philadelphia squad left with a 160-122 win.
   On December 20, 2005 the Pittsburgh Xplosion of the American Basketball Association did their impression of the '76ers on this date when the routed the Ohio Aviators by a score of 163-116.
  Tomorrow we will look at one incredible college basketball game. 

NHL roots

    In 1909 The National Hockey Association played its first games. The league served as the top Hockey League for the next eight seasons in Canada. As several problems plauged the league in its eight season, the club owners tried very hard to find solutions to these problems. One team had to withdraw when its team members were called to serve overseas in World War I. Another team owner was so hated by the other owners that they elected to withdraw from the league and not to invite the hated owner to join with them.
  The formed the National Hockey League. On December 19, 1917 the league played its first games. At the Montreal Arena the Montreal Wanderers defeated the Toronto Arenas by a score of 10-9. At The Arena in Ottawa, Ontario the Montreal Canadians beat the Senators by a score of 7-4. The leagues problems were not yet over as several weeks later the Montreal Arena burned down and the wanderers were forced out of the league being without a home arena. The Senators lasted until 1934 before they folded. The Arenas later changed their name to the Maple Leafs. So, at this early date the league and two of its greatest clubs were in place, just early enough to call the NHL the third oldest major sports league right ahead of the NFL.
  Tomorrow we will take a look at a big second half by the 76ers    

A Big Merger

As most sports fans know the Baseballs' National League played its first season in 1876. Although I would believe not as many sports fans know that in 1882 the National League got a friendly competitor on the Major League level when the American Association began play.
    Together the two leagues fought off two attempts to form third leagues. By the time they fought off the Players League in 1890, the Association was bruised, bleeding and fighting for its life. After the 1891 season the Association stumbled to the bargaining table in an effort to negotiate a merger with the National League. Those negotitions ended on December 18, 1891 with announcement of a merger called "The National League and American Association of Professional Baseball Clubs". The National League had agreed to add the Baltimore, Maryland; Louisville, Kentucky; Saint Louis, Missouri and Washington, DC Clubs from the American Association.
     The long title did not last long and neither did the 12 club league. Just before the 1900 season was scheduled to start the league dropped 3 of the 4 old AA Clubs. I find it quite interesting that the only non-AA Club dropped was owned by a sydicate that owned the club being dropped and the only AA surviving club. The group owned both the Cardinals and the Cleveland Spiders. The Spiders were used as a farm club by the Cardinals and their record showed it as they finished with an embarassing 20-134 a record that even the 1962 expansion season New York Mets could not match in 1962.
     Our story for today ended after the 1900 season when the newly renamed American League (nee Western League (Whose first season was 1894)) declared its intention to turn on the National League and take it on as a rival. At the same time the American League moved two of its clubs into territory vacated by the National League the year before when they placed clubs at Baltimore (now the New York Yankees) and Washington, DC (Now the Minnesota Twins). I disagree with some historians that the 1900 American League should be recogized as a Major League. I base my opinion solely on the fact that the league did not declare itself as a major league until after the 1900 season was played. To change history like that would be wrong as that is not what the fans of the day believed.
  Tomorrow we will look at some Hockey roots.

A Day in Sports

    The most famous event to occur in history on December 17th was the Wright Brothers first airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Since them many events have made history on December 17 in the sports pages. In my book I have documented 20 of those events in several different sports. Today we are highlighting those events.
   The first of these events was in 1914 when in Baseballs Pacific Coast League the Mission-Sacramento franchise was transferred to Salt Lake City, Utah. The franchise is still in the league it now resides outside of Austin, Texas as the Round Rock Express. The club had returned to Sacramento for a brief period in the mid 1970s. Interestingly enough on December 17, 1960 in the same league, another Sacramento franchise was transferred to Honoloulu, Hawaii. That franchise is now at Colorado Springs, Colorado since it moved from Hawaii after the 1987 season. A couple years after the move to Hawaii, the league admitted the club from Indianapolis, Indiana. That is one long road trip!!!
   In 1963 Soccer tried  to prove that baseball is not the only sport that makes headlines on December 17. In international soccer the team from Tahiti scored an 18-0 victory over the Solomon Islands.
  In 1967 the American Football League tried to make its mark when Nolan Smith of the Chiefs scored a 106 yard kickoff return in a game against the Broncos. Did it help the Chiefs win the game? Your going to have to read the book!!   
  In 1968 it was basketballs turn. The Phoenix Suns, just two months after playing their first franchise game, gave up a season high 145 points to the Philadephia 76ers. The loss at home dropped their season record to 7-24. They finished that first season with a 16-66 record.
  In 1978 Hockey figured it was their turn when Danny Gare of the Sabres scored 7 seconds into a game with the Vancouver Canucks.
  Finally our look at December 17th ends with 2006 and a Lakers game at the Staples Center they lost to the Washington Wizards 147-141 in overtime. The game featured 31 three point goals between the two clubs.
  Tomorrow we look at a Major league merger.  

A Day of Baseball News

Professional Baseball is a game being played 12 months a year. Although the World Series has been over for 1.5 months it does not mean that Baseball has not been played since. Here in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area, an area that I claim as the "Baseball Capital of the World" the game has been out of season for less then 4 weeks now and in 2 shorth months from now it will be back as catchers and pitchers of a full half of the MLB teams will be reporting here for spring training.
  Even today games are being played in Australia, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic. Baseball has always had that year a round news making ability. For many years The Sporting News published nothing but baseball news 52 weeks a year as the "Bible of Baseball". Lets take a look at the news that made headlines in the Baseball World on December 16 in the years past.
   We start on December 16, 1908 when the Oskaloosa, Iowa franchise of the Central Association was transferred to Hannibal, Missouri.
   On December 16, 1922 the Eastern Colored League was formed on the East Coast as an eight club league. As a direct result, the following season the first Negro World Series was played.
  On December 16, 1938 The North Carolina State League made headlines by expanding to ten clubs with the addition of the Shelby and Statesville, NC Clubs.
   On December 16, 1942 the Virginia League suspended operations after struggling through the 1942 season because of World War 2. Although most of the leagues that suspended operations for the duration of the war returned for the 1946 season, the Virginia League did not resume play until the 1948 season.
  On December 16, 1945 the Cornbelt League failed to organize and elected to wait another year before hitting the playing field. The following year the league was successful in organizing and took the field as the Central Association, a direct successor of the league mentioned above.
  If you think that baseball has lost its touch here in the twentyfirst century guess again. On December 16, 2002 The Central League added its 10th Club when the Shreveport, Louisiana Club was added.
   Even this close to Christmas every sport is jockey for its position in the Sports page headlines, tomorrow we will look at highlights from all four major sports and a soccer game, too.
 

A Day of Hockey

  Today we are looking at some the record Hockey games that were played on December 15. 
  We start with a game played on December 15, 1924 at the Boston Garden in where else but Boston. The Bruins were playing in only their fifth franchise game and their third home game. Unfortunately for the Bruins, the visitors the Ottawa Senators made themselves at home taking a 10-2 game from the home club. The Bruins record was dropped to 1-4. The Bruins would not win their second game until January 10 in Montreal, a 10 game losing streak.
   We now fast forward to December 15, 1981 with the New York Islanders hosting the Quebec Nordiques. The Islanders won a squeaker by a score of 10-7.
   We now go on to December 15, 1990 and the East Coast Hockey League. The Erie Panthers beat the Roanoke Valley Rebels 12-4.  
   Teams that scored 10 goals or more are not the only hockey stats documented here. On December 15, 1995 Deron T. Quint of the Winnipeg Jets scored two goals in 4 seconds during the second period in the Jets 9-4 win over the Edmondton Oilers.
    On a slew of games on December 15, 2007 makes me think it was National Goalies Take the Day Off in the minors. At the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa, the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League scored a 10-2 win over the Iowa Stars. At the Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho, New Mexico the New Mexico Scorpions of the Central Hockey League scored a 10-3 win over the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees. At the S & T Bank Arena in Indiana, Pennsylvania the Indiana Ice Miners of the Mid-Atlantic Hockey League scored a 10-0 win over the Jamestown Vikings.
   Tommorrow we will look at how Baseball spends its offseason. Have a great day and dont forget to read the Sports page, where history is upfolding as you read this. 

Lots of Basketball- Part 3

Today we are looking at four basketball games and the effects that they had on the games recordbooks. The first game was played on December 14, 1957 at the Keil Auditorium in Saint Louis, Missouri between the Saint Louis Hawks and the New York Knicks. The Hawks scored a 136-124 win over the Knicks. The Knicks had 26 of the 50 free throw attempts made in one quarter.
We move ahead to December 14, 1972 and an American Basketball Association game at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah between the Utah Jazz and the Memphis Tams. The Jazz took a 147-90 win over the visitors. Exactly one year later in the same league at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina, the Jazz scored a 132-130 win in triple overtime against the Carolina Cougars. Maybe its a bad idea to schedule a game with the Jazz on December 14. We will have to check their record on the day since.
The last game we are looking at was played on December 14, 1999 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles between its two teams, The Clippers and the Lakers. The visiting Clippers were doomed by a miserable start in their 95-68 beating by the Lakers. The Clippers scored only 19 points in the first half. The Lakers outscored them 17-3 in the second quarter. The Clippers must have thought that they were playing in the pre World War Two Era. They most certianly would have never made it in todays American Basketball Association or even the International Basketball League, two minor leagues where high scoring games are the norm.
Tomorrow we will look at the World of Hockey for one day just as we have been looking at Basketball for the last three days.

Lots of Basketball- Part 2

We begin today look at basketball history with a look at a pair of games from December 13, 1959. The first one was played at the Onondaga County War Memorial Arena in Syracuse, New York where the Syracuse Nationals beat the Philadelphia Warriors by a score of 150-121. Just a few shorth years later the Warriors moved to San Francisco, California and a season later the Nationals replaced them in Philly with a move of their own. On that same date at the Olympia in Detroit, Michigan, the Detroit Pistons scored a 147-129 victory over the visiting New York Knicks. Both of those teams however remain in the city where they played at the time.
We move on to a December 13, 1980 game played between the San Antonio Spurs and the Denver Nuggets at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio. The home team Spurs scored a 147-123 win. The Nuggets were no stranger to playing high scoring games on December 13th won by the home team.
Fortunately for the Nuggets they were the home team in the December 13, 1983 game played with the Detroit Pistons. The Pistons despite having 47 of the games 93 assists dropped a heartbreakimng, record setting game to the Nuggets 186-184 in triple overtime. Three hundred seventy total points is alot of points for any basketball game, at any level of play.
On December 13, 1989 once again the Continental Basketball Association got into the act. In a game played at Moline, Illinois, the Quad City Thunder scored a 172-122 win over the Santa Barbara Islanders.
Finally on December 13, 2005, in a game played at SBC Center in San Antonio, Texas, the Spurs took a 95-87 overtime win from the Los Angeles Clippers. The Clippers had only 6 turnovers in the game, which was two more then the Spurs had. Thats not a bad game when the two teams combine for only 10 turnovers in an overtime game.
Tomorrow we will have our third and final look at the series.

Lots of Basketball- Part 1

Today we are beginning a three day look at record setting basketball games. I would be very easy for me to write about baseball everyday however, I want to reach fans of all sports.
Our look at basketball begins with a quick look at the December 12, 1958 game between the Boston Celtics and the Cincinnati Royals at the Boston Garden. The Celtics won the game 125-115 in overtime. One of the keys to this game was the fact that future Hall of Famer Bill Russell had 17 rebounds in one quarter. I could have just as easily written about the Southern Association shift of the Little Rock, Arkansas Franchise to Shreveport, Louisiana that happened in baseball on that same day.
We will continue our look at basketball with a look at the December 12, 1967 game played at New Yorks' Madison Square Garden between the New York Knicks and the Saint Louis Hawks. The visiting Hawks scored a 145-142 win over the home team, thats a lot of scoring for one game.
We now move on to the December 12, 1985 game played at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland between the Washington Bullets and the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bullets scored a 110-108 overtime victory. The Bullets Manute Bol, who only recently passed away, had 11 blocked shots in one half, 8 of those coming in one quarter.
The next game we are looking at, on the surface did not look like a game worth mentioning in this forum. The Dallas Mavericks 112-97 win over the Los Angeles Lakers at the Great Western Forum does not look like much. When one sees that the Mavericks scored their win in overtime, you can then see that their 23 points in the overtime period was very much the key in this game.
The National Basketball Association does not have the monopoly on the interesting games worth mentioning in this forum. On December 12, 2002 the Continental Basketball Association got into the act. At the Genesis Convention Center in Gary, Indiana the Grand Rapids Hoops beat the Gary Steelheads by a score of 148-95. Given the opportunity to look at minor league basketball a lot closer I can find many more games like this one.
Tomorrow the second part of record games in basketball. Maybe someday we can put together a minor league basketball recordbook at least single games.

Where were the Goalies

On this date, December 11, 1985 the edminton Oilers led by Center Wayne "The Great One" Gretzky traveled to Chicago Stadium in Chicago, Illinois to met the Blackhawks. If the fans were hoping for a more typical 1-0 or 2-1 game, they were badly disappointed. In a game where the home team scores 9 goals more often then not the home team has an excellent shot at winning the game. This however was not the case, as Gretzky and Company scored 12 goals in a very record setting game.
Among the many records tied in this wild one were: Most goals scored by both clubs, most points scored by both clubs (62) and most goals scored by both clubs in one period (12 in the second period). The Oilers had 12 of 23 assists in the second period and 24 of 41 assists in the game. Gretzky had 7 assists in the game.
Meanwhile at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan the Minnesota NorthStars 10-2 beating of the Red Wings looked quiet in comparsion.
Tomorrow we will look at some record setting basketball games.

The designated Hitter

On December 10, 1972, Baseballs' American League voted to experiment with the designated hitter for a period of 3 years. Whether or you like the rule has fueld many great debates. The history of the DH is much deeper then most fans know. On December 11, 1928, National League President John Heydler proposed its use. He was not the first, nor the last over the course of the next 44 years.
On January 31, 1969 permission was granted to four minor leagues to use different versions of the designated hitter rule. The leagues were the International, Eastern, Texas and New York Pennsylvania Leagues. It is these experiments that lead to the rule that the American League adopted. I do find it strange that the International League wa sselected as the AAA league to use the rule as just 8 years before, the Pacific Coast League had its request turned down on March 30, 1961.
Most fans follow league lines on whether or not they like with most American League fans being for it. What are your thoughts.
As for tomorrow, I am planning a look at record setting NHL Hockey Game. Any suggestions to this blog would be greatly appreicated, okay that and a click or two on an ad. Have a great weekend everyone!!

A One Sided Championship

Just three weeks after a 7-3 beating by the Washington Redskins, the Chicago Bears went to Griffith Stadium in Washington, DC on December 8, 1940 for a rematch. This time they were meeting for all the marbles, the league championship game.
The Bears bought with them the T formation and used it quite well against the 'Skins, beating them by a score of 73-0. The Bears set numerous league records, some of which still stand today. They scored 11 touchdowns, 4 of them in the third quarter. They racked up 501 total yards and stil had to punt twice.
The game was the first NFL title game to be broadcast on coast to coast radio.

Booted

Professional league baseball as with any new enterprise got off to a rocky start. The first league was called the National Association. The league throughout its five season history was in constant flux with clubs coming and going. Part of the leagues problems were corruption. The gamblers were everywwhere. Another problem was the $10 franchise fee. With all the problems, some of the league leaders wanted more.
On February 2, 1876 8 clubs formed the National League. The clubs represented were Boston, MA; Chicago, IL; Cincinnati, OH; Hartford, CT; Louisville, KY; New York, NY; Philadelphia, PA and Saint Louis, MO. The league members were adament about running the league without scandal. At the end of the first season, the New York and Philadelphia Clubs elected not to make their final western road trip.
On December 7, 1876, many years before Pearl Harbor, at the league meeting the issue came to a head. The New York and Philadelphia Clubs were expelled by the league. The league went on for 6 seasons without 2 of the biggest markets in the league. The Boston and Chicago clubs remain in the league to this day as the Braves and the Cubs. The City of Philadelphia remained out of the Majors until 1882 when they got a berth in the newly formed American Association. The City of New York remained out of the Majors when the were allowed, with a new Philadelphia Club , to return to the National League. The Phillies remain in the league today, the Giants live in San Francisco as the World Champions.
Tomorrow we look at a very one sided championship football game.

A Triple Overtime Thriller plus

One thing that the NBA did many years ago was put together 4 team doubleheaders. One such occasion was December 6, 1958, when a four team doubleheader was played at Keil Auditorium in Saint Louis, Missouri. In the first game the Cincinnati Royals defeated the Minneapolis Lakers in a thrilling 132-128, triple overtime game. In almost seemed anti-climatic when the Saint Louis Hawks defeated the Philadelphia Warriors 107-97.
Tomorrow we look at a transaction of teams in the National League.

MCI Center

On December 5, 1997, just three days after hosting its first NBA game, the MCI Center hosted its first NHL game. The new arena replaced the U.S. Airways Arena in nearby Landover, MD as the home arena for the Washington Wizards basketball team and the Washington Capitals Hockey team, where the tow teams had played for 24 seasons.
On this date, the Caps defeated the Florida Panthers in overtime. The arena is now known as the Verizon Center in 2006.
Tomorrow we will discuss a 1958 triple overtime thriller.

Grey Cup

Today we are marking the anniversary of the first Grey Cup Game ever played. The game was played at Rosedale Field in Toronto, Ontario. The University of Toronto Varsity Blues played against the Toronto Parkdale Canoe Club. The University Club won the game by a score of 26-6. The Varsity Blues put the game away with 11 points in the fourth quarter. The Parkdale Club would return but not win the game in 1913. The Varsity Blues would return to the game the next two years and then again in 1920. They won the cup each time that they played. Although the game has returned to Toronto 44 times, the game would not return to Rosedale Field.
Today the game is played between members of the professional Canadian Football League. The latest game was played last Sunday at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Alberta between the Montreal Alouettes and the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Next years game will be played for an eighth time to BC Place Stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia, which recently hosted the Winter Olympic Games.
Tomorrow we will look at the opening of the MCI Centre in Washington, DC.

Wrigley Field, Chicago

December may seem like a strange month for Baseball history to be made, however true it may be. On December 3, 1926 The Chicago Cubs announced that they had renamed their home park "Wrigley Field" in honor of team owner William Wrigley, Jr. In changing the name of the park to Wrigley Field, the ballpark received its third official name in 14 years of hosting sporting events. The park opened as Weeghman Park in 1914 named as in honor of its builder and the owner of the Chicago Whales of the Federal League. When the league went out of business after the 1915 season, the Cubs moved in. They changed the name of the park to Cubs Park in 1920. That was done just in time for the Bears football team moving in.
The park was not the first to receive the name "Wrigley Field" as that name was already being used by the Cubs top farm club the Los Angeles Angels for their ballpark. One of the Angels most bizzarre chapters of their history was made in December as well. On December 2, 1941 just 5 days before the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Angels announced that they were changing their nickname from the "Angels" to the "Bears". This announcement proved to be very unpopular and was very quickly changed back.
Sports history occurs all the time and all over the calendar. Someday, I will get my book "The Biggest Book of This Date in Sports History" published and prove the point, any takers?
Tommorrow we will take a look at a historical event in Canadian Football.

Returning Soon

This Blog has been tenatively scheduled to return on Friday, December 3, 2010 with a discussion on Wrigley Field in Chicago, please return then.

Problems

Due to unforeseen computer problems this blog with be offline for an unknown period of time. For more information you may contact me at sabrkev@gmail.com

Hello Goodbye

Today we are looking at two events that have nothing in common other then the day of August 5. On August 5, 1937 Herb Brooks, junior was born at Saint Paul, Minnesota. His claim to fame as we all know was his olympic experiences. He was the last player cut from the 1960 United States Olympic hokcey team. That team went on to the gold medal. He played on the 1964 and 1968 teams. His biggest claim to fame was when he was coach of the 1980 team. The "Miracle on Ice" team. The underdog team that took America and the Olympics by storm at time we needed something to be proud of.

The other August 5 event was in 2002 and the death of Francis D. Hearn. Hearn was very well known by his nickname "Chick". Hearn was a very well broadcaster for the Los Angeles Lakers. Hearn started broadcasting for the Lakers in 1961 and was still going strong before his death. He suffered injuries in a fall at his home and died a few days later. Hearn and his wife were about to celebrate their 64th wedding anniversary.

Tomorrow we will look go back once again and look at a Texas League game.

A Long No-hitter

On August 4, 1971 one of the greatest ever pitching performances in the Texas League was made. Thomas Walker of the Dallas-Fort Worth Spurs pitched a 15 inning no-hitter against the Albuquerque Dodgers at All-Sports Stadium in Albuquerque, New Mexico.



Walker would make the majors the follwing year with the Montreal Expos. The Spurs replaced the following year by the Texas Rangers. The Albuquerque Dodgers were also replaced, gy the Albuquerque Dukes of the Pacific Coast League. The Texas League continued to march on as a strong AA league. Today the league continues on developing players by the dozens for the Majors.



Tomorrow we will look at Herb Brooks and Chick Hearn.

Important Basketball Milestone

On August 3, 1949 the National Basketball League announced its end. The league had merged with the three year old Basketball Association of America. The Dayton, Ohio and Hammond, Indiana Clubs from the National Basketball League folded. The Indianapolis, Indiana and Providence, Rhode Island Clubs from the Basketball Association of America also folded. A new club from Andersen, Indiana was admitted joining the other six new clubs from Denver, Colorado; Moline-Rock Island, Illinois-Davenport, Iowa; Sheboygan, Wisconsin; Syracuse, NY and Waterloo, Iowa, a new Indianapolis, Indiana club was also added. Of all the new clubs two of them survive today. The Tri-Cities Club now resides in Atlanta as the Hawks. The Syracuse Club now resides in Philadelphia as the 76ers. The mergered organization and its 18 clubs changed their name to the National Basketball Association.

Tomorrow we will look at a 1971 no-hitter.

A Football First

In 1973 as the football world started their training camps a rude surprise greeted the National Football League. On August 2, 1973 the World Football League announced its existance and its roster of 12 clubs. The teams announced were: Anaheim, CA; Birmingham, AL; Boston, MA; Chicago, IL; Detroit, MI; Honolulu, HI; Jacksonville, FL; New York, NY; Portland, OR; Toyko, Japan; Toronto, Ontario and Washington, DC.

This was not the line up that hit the playing field the following year when the games started. Several changes were in fact made. The Toronto, Ontario club was transferred to Memphis, TN. The Washington, DC club was transferred to Orlando, FL. The Toyko, Japan club was transferred to Houston, TX. Once the league hit the playing field the real fun began as clubs continued to move for the 1 and a half years the league was on the playing field.

There is nothing wrong with more sports choices, however without proper planning the efforts go to waste and the history books. Tomorrow we will look at changes on the basketball court.

Musical Cities

It would be very easy for an Air Force veteran like myself to take time off from writing about sports history to write about the day in 1907 when the unit that would one day become the United States Air Force was formed.

I remain faithful to sports history and tell you about the Porterville Comets. Okay so they were the Ensenda-Riverside, Riverside-Porterville, Porterville Comets. How is that you ask? We let me explain. The club was a member of the 1952 Southwest International League. The league was formed as 10 club league by a merger between the Arizona-texas League and the Sunset League. After one season, the Arizona-Texas League clubs voted to return to their own league. The five remaining clubs needed a sixth club for the league. A solution was found in putting together an all negro club. The team was originally set up as the Ensenda-Riverside club. The club wouuld play week nights in Riverside, California and weekends 200 miles south in the Baja California Norte city of Ensenda. when early attendence figures from Mexico were poor at best, that half of the franchise was transferred 200 miles the other way to the City of Porterville, thus Riverside-Porterville. When attendence figures from Porterville looked much better then those in Riverside, the club was transferred north full time. Even then the team struggled at the gate.

On August 1, 1952 the end came and the club was forced to fold. the end of the season saw the end of the league as well. It was a noble experiment however it was not enough. Fortuneately experiments like this are no longer neccessary to get a good gate for a team. Granted some of the distractions at your local minor league teams game will sometimes make you wonder.

Tomorrow we will look at a football first.

The women Played on

Today we look back at one of the longest baseball games played by women. The All-American Girls Baseball League game played on July 31, 1947 at Horlick Field in Racine, Wisconsin between the Racine Belles and the South Blue Sox went 22 innings. The Blue Sox won the game by a score of 4-3 in 4 hours and 30 minutes. Both pitchers Eleanor Dapkus of the Belles and Jean Faut of the Blue Sox went all the way. The two teams traded single runs in the 14th inning. For Dapkus it was her first game as a pitcher, she was previously an outfielder. She had excelled as an outfielder and would not disappoint on the mound. She would retire after the 1950 season when the Belles moved to Battle Creek, Michigan. Faut was in the middle of her second of eight league seasons. She would go on to win player of year honors twice, pitch four no-hitters, two of them perfect games.

Tomorrow we will look at the Porterville Comets.

The Last of the Ladies

On July 30, 1998 the Ladies League Baseball folded. Most baseball fans did not even know the league existed. I was fortunate to see one league game with my wife and two oldest daughters. My wife was pregnant with our third daugghter at the time. We attended tthe san Jose Spitfires at Long Beach Aces game the night before the league folded. I counted 80 fans in the stands as the league had already announced the next night would be their last. I did manage to get a foul ball during the game. The players looked like they were very happy to be playing baseball.

The league had opened the year before with four teams. The teams were the Long Beach Aces, Los Angeles Legends, Phoenix Peppers and the San Jose Spitfires. When I heard the league lineup for the 1998 season I was crushed. The league had moved the Legends to Homestead, FL and given expansion teams to Augusta, NJ and Buffalo, NY. My thought was this league will never make it. I wish I had been wrong. If I can get this next part right it will show that something was wrong with the league in planning their season. The Aces trained at home, opened on the east coast, then traveled to San Jose, then back to the east coast and finally back to California for their home opener a three game set against the Spitfires. That is when the end came. Properlly run this league could have easily been a great success, instead it went into the history books as a failure in its second season. A comeback should be planned soon. The WNBA started about the same time, although that league suffered from some growing pains, it is today a healthy league. Even the Lingere Football League appears to be doing well.

Tomorrow we will end the month looking at one womens league game.

A first all-Star game

Today many professional baseball leagues have there own all-star game. Alot of these leagues have home run derbys as well. With each of these leagues, one of these games had to be a first. Today we look at the first all-star game in the Pacific Coast League.

On July 29, 1941, the league played their first all-star game. The game was played at Seals Stadium in San Francisco, California. The North club was managed by Pepper Martin, who was the Sacramento manager at the time. Martin had players from the Oakland Oaks, the Seattle Rainers and the Portland Beavers in addition to players from his own club. The South club was managed by San Francisco Seals manager Frank O'Doul. O'Doul had players from the Los Angeles Angels, Hollywood Stars and San Diego Padres in addition to players from his own club.

Before the game started league president W.C. Tuttle got on the PA and announced that the game would an annual feature on the leagues' schedule. Thanks to 2 eighth inning runs the South won the game by a score of 3-1.

Tomorrow we look at the end of the Ladies League from the late 1990s.

The First No-No

Here we are just two days removed from the first no-hitter in the histiry of the Tampa Bay Rays by Matt Garza. Somewhere in the deep dark history of the game is the first no-hitter ever. On July 28, 1875 in the National Association, 21 year old Joseph E. Borden of the Philadelphia White Stockings pitched a 4-0 no-hitter over the Chicago White Stockings. It was the first no-hitter in professional baseball history. The game was played at Jefferson Street Grounds in Philadelphia.

The Philadelphia Club was near the end of its three year run in the league. They were not invited to join the National League following year. The Chicago Club was invited to join the National Leqgue when it was founded the following year. They are one of the two clubs from the first year of the National League that are still in the league. They are the only club that has never moved since day one. Borden did play in the National League, pitching 29 games for the Boston Red Caps. He also played 16 games in the outfield. Borden never had the career that Garza is enjoying, but he did have the first no-hitter in a league where high scoring was the rule, not the exception.

Tomorrow we will look at another first, this one in the Pacific Coast League.

Dont let him touch the ball again

How does a pitcher make three errors on the same play and still come away with a convincing win? Many things would have to be right to make that happen. If the date was July 27, 1988 and you are pitching for the Yankees at Yankee Stadium, you might have a chance. If your name is Tommy John then it could happen.

In the Brewer fourth inning, future Hall of Famer Paul Molitor led off by oddly enough, grounding out back to John. Second baseman Jim Gantner then walked. Leftfielder Jeffery Leonard started all the trouble by hitting a ground ball back to John, tommy booted the ball. John then threw the ball into rightfield. His rightfielder, another future Hall of famer, Dave Winfield tried to throw Gantner out at the plate. However, John cut the throw off and relayed it, you guessed it, the Brewer dugout. Both runners scored on the play.

The Yankees still came away with a 16-3 win for John. That is how you can commit three errors on one play and still win a game. The mere fact that at the age of 45, John was still pitching says alot about two men. Those men being Dr. Frank Jobe and Dr. Robert Kerlen. The doctors tended to John in 1974 after he ruptured the ligament in his pitching elbow. Before then it was a death sentance for a pitcher, a career ending injury. After experimental surgery put John back on the mound, Tommy resumed his pitching career. Many pitchers have had "Tommy John" surgery and continued to pitch. For this feat, I firmly believe that these two doctors should be in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Of course, I also firmly believe that Marvin Miller should be there too.

Tomorrow we will look at the first no-hitter.

Joe Ds big hitting streak

When someone talks of "Joe Ds big hitting streak", they talk of the 56 game hitting streak by one future Hall of Fame Joseph Paul DiMaggio in 1941. Whole books have been written on the "Streak". The streak we are talking about today is DiMaggios 61 game hitting streak. For those who are not well versed in minor league baseball history, this streak was in the Pacific Coast League in 1933.

On July 26, 1933 at Seals Stadium in San Francisco, California, DiMaggio went 0 for 5 against Edward A. Walsh, Jr of the Oakland Oaks. The Seals however still won the game by a score of 4-3. Walsh who by this time had 4 years with the Chicago White Sox, was able to get the best of the young DiMaggio, just not his teammates.

Tomorrow we look at neat fielding trick by a MLB pitcher.

Several Baseball Games and a Basketball Game

In my upcoming book, I have 21 entries listed under "July 25". Noone of them seem to stand out as worthy of an entire blog. So, today we will discuss 4 games that were played on July 25.

The first game was played at Ringwood Park in Peoria, Illinois in 1907. The 3-I League game was played between the Clinton Infants and the Peoria Distillers. The games was scoreless through the first 21 innings. Then, the hometown Distillers scored 3 runs in the top of the 22nd and then as the Infants threatened in the bottom half of the inning, the Distillers pulled a triple play to snuff out the rally and end the game.

Just two years later, a Illinois-Missouri League game at Galesburg, Illlinois went into the 18th inning scoreless. The Galesburg Boosters scored a run in their half of the 18th to win. The Boosters pitcher was future Hall of famer Grover Cleveland Alexander.

Moving ahead all the way to 1978, we look at a California League game played at Lawrence Park in Lodi, California. It took triple plays in the first and fifth innings by the Lodi Dodgers to take an 11-6 win over the Fresno Giants.

Our final stop was in 2001 at the Gund Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. In the Womens National Basketball Association game between the Cleveland Rockers and the Miami Sol, the Rockers scored only 52 points and still won the game by 4 points in overtime!!!

Sports history is full of stories such as the four of these. My upcoming book will feature close to 8000 stories like these among its 400 pages. Tomorrow we will look at a 1933 hitting streak.

That is alot of Wins

Until the early 1990s, it was not uncommon for their to be teams in minor league baseball that did not have a MLB parent club. In order to remain in the league the teams had to recruit and sign players themselves. Most of the time the teams would do very poorly on the field. This was because the players, who did not have contacts with major league organizations usually were not good enough to have one.

In 1987 there was an independent team that was a huge exception to this rule. The Salt Lake City Trappers of the Pioneer League were the best team in the league thanks to a 29 game winning streak in July. The previous record for most consecutive wins by a National Association team in a row was 27. On July 24, 1987, they tied this record thanks to a 7-2 win over the Pocatello Giants at Derks Field in Salt Lake City. Three days later they tasted defeat for the first in over a month, when at Cobb Field in Billings, Montana, they suffered a 7-5 loss at the hands of the Billings Mustangs. If you remove the 29 wins from their record, it would still be 20-21.

One of more interesting things about this club is that not one player on the team ever saw a day in the majors. Even manager Jim Gilligan could not get a job working in a major league organization as a minor league manager. Six of the other 7 clubs in the league combined to send 28 players to the major leagues. The 29 game winning streak would last as a record for only five years, when the the 1992 Blue Jays- east club of the Dominican Summer League had a 33 game winning streak enroute to a 68-2 record in 70 games.

Tomorrow we will look at several basebakk games and a basketball game.

The Reds are coming

On July 22, 1866 the Cincinnati Reds Baseball Club was formed. At the time the event did not draw headlines even in the SW corner of the State of Ohio. The importance of this event was not known for a couple of years. In 1869, the Reds became the first openly professional baseball team. All the naysayers said they would never make any money. When the books were balanced at the end of the season, the club showed a profit of $1.39. When the first baseball league was formed for the 1871 season, the Reds were no where in sight. The city that brought the world the first professional baseball team did not even play in the first league. When the National League replaced the National Association in 1876, the Reds joined up. The team did take the 1881 season off before joining the American Association for the 1882 season, the team returned to the National League for good in time for the 1890 season. For many years the Reds were given the honor of opening the season before any one else was allowed to.

Tomorrow we will look at the Salt Lake City Trappers.

Lots of Innings no hits

Today we looking at two extra inning no-hitters. On July 22, 1909 Albert J. Carson of the Portland Beavers pitched a 1-0 ten inning no-hitter over the Los Angeles Angels at Lucky Beaver Stadium in Portland, Oregon. After an excellent season with the Pacific Coast League club, Carson was drafted by the Chicago Cubs however, he only pitched in 2 games and had 6 2/3 innings. He returned to the Pacific Coast League for 3 more good seasons, however stumbled badly in 1913 and left Organized Baseball for good.

Exactly 7 years later, another pitcher went extra innings with his no-hitter. At Bay Street Park in Rochester, New York, Urban J Shocker of the Toronto Maple Leafs pitched a 1-0 11 inning gem. By the end of the season shockers minor league career was over, for different reasons then carson. Shocker launched a 13 year career pitching in the American League, splitting his time between the Yankees and the saint Louis Browns.

Tomorrow we will look at the founding of the Cincinnati Reds.

Will it ever end

In Major League Baseball history, 6 games have reached the 24th inning. The games are equally divided between the two leagues. Three of the six games have gone on to the 25th inning. Two of the games were called tie games. Today we are looking at the American League game played on July 21, 1945 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania between the Philadelphia A's and the Detroit Tigers.

The game tied an American League record set some 39 years earlier for most innings in one game. The record was broken some 39 years later in 1984. The 24 inning game was called a 1-1 tie. The A's scored their run in the bottom of the 4th inning and had the lead until the top of the seventh, when the Tigers scored their run. The two teams combined for 27 hits but, each team scored only one extra base hit, that being a double for each team. The two teams combined to leave 33 runners on base. The pitching only walked 12 batters in the game. Each team also sent two pitchers to the mound. The Tigers Russ Christopher pitched the first 13 innings and Joe Berry pitched the last 11 innings. The A's starter Les Muellar pitched 19 2/3 inings before being relieved by Dizzy Trout. The game was played in 4:48 before a crowd of 4526. The teams sent an amazing 179 batters to the plate.

Tomorrow we will look at extra inning no-hitters.

Fifty Cents for a game

On July 20, 1858 a sports milestone first was made at the Fashion Race Course on Long Island, New York. For the first time admission to a game was charged. The game was an all-star game between Brooklyn Clubs and New York Clubs. The admission fee for the game was fifty cents.

The Brooklyn all-star team was drawn from the Atlantic, Eckford, Excelsior and Putnam Clubs. The New York all-star team was drawn from the Eagle, Empire, Gotham, Knickerbocker and Union Clubs. A rather large crowd witnessed the New York team win the game by a score of 22-18. The New York club was led by lower fielder Hoyt and pitcher Van Cott. Several of the clubs that were represented in the game would later turn professional and play in the first organized baseball league, the National Association.

Tomorrow we look at a very long American League game.

Home runs and Old Timers

Today is the anniversary of the first Cracker Jack Old Timers game. The game was played on July 19, 1982 at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC. The biggest highlight of the game was a home run hit by 75 year old Luke Appling off Warren Spahn. The "Blast" traveled only 250 feet, however it was because fences had been brought in for the game. The game was played for the next 3 years at RFK Stadium through 1985. The game traveled after that, however I am not sure for how long. I have found solid evidence that the game was played as late as 1987. I am quite certian that I remember the game being played in Anaheim, California in 1989. Memory however can not be considered as solid enough evidence in this case. I have tried to do some research on the topic however my current sources have showed nothing. I would love to see this series renewed however, a willing corporate sponser would have to be found. What a great game, it would be. Anyone want to see Cal Ripkin swing a bat, just one more time?

Tomorrow we will look at a very early box office first.

A league first

Yesterday we looked at Florida's Gulf Coast League. Today we travel across the country to the hot deserts of the Phoenix Metropolitan Area's Arizona Rookie League. Like many other leagues its history has featured no-hitters, the longer the history the more no-hitters have been pitched. Some leagues waited several seasons to see their first and in some cases only no-hitter. Several leagues have witnessed no-hitters on the day the league first opened play.

When the Arizona Rookie League opened play on June 23, 1988, they had five MLB teams backing its four clubs. One of those clubs was backed by both the Mariners and Red Sox. That club was one of the more interesting clubs in minor league history. The two clubs would alternate days which the two clubs prospects would play a scheduled game. If one club needed an extra player, they would simply borrow them from the other organization. I believe that the team even had two managers. Even if a player was borrowed from the other team, he still wore the uniform of his parent club.

On July 18, 1988 the leagues wait for for its first no-hitter ended when the Padres Jeffery Hart pitched a 3-0 gem in Scottsdale against the Brewers, who had traveled from Peoria for the game. Although his 5-0 league record did earn him a late season promotion to the Northwest League, he never got higher then Class A ball, leaving the game after 3 seasons.

Today the league has 12 clubs playing in three divisions, unlike the GCL, league teams do play outside their division. This because the league is so tight geographically, that the longest road trip for a team is about an hour. The Chicago White Sox are the only team currently training in the Phoenix Area that does not have a team in the league. the might pick up two teams next year when the Diamondbacks and Rockies move north, from Tucson.

Tomorrow we are leaving the youngsters behind and looking at the Old timers.

Goat becomes a Hero

Today we are looking at a game from 1981 in the Gulf Coast League. The early days of the Gulf Coast League made it a unique league to play in. From its first games that were played in 1964 until 1986, the league restricted itself to the Sarasota-Bradenton Area of Florida. The leagues clubs were based in as many as 5 different ballparks scattered thoughout the two cities. In 1981 the league peaked out at 12 clubs in the era. As many as 3 clubs would share one park. Most of the times though because the facilities that were used had more then one field that could be used, more then one game could be played at one facility at a time.

Such was the case on July 17, 1981 when Lyle Olsen, manager of the Astros-Orange team, took his team across the field at Arthur Allyn Park in Sarasota to the visitors dugout to play the Rangers team in the league. The Astros two clubs shared the park with the Rangers Club. The Royals also had two clubs in the league playing in Sarasota, but they were based at the Royals Academy in a different part of the city.

In the top of the sixth inning, Steve McAllister of the Astros hit into an unassisted triple play. Rangers second baseman Craig Goodin pulled the feat. The game would later go into extra innings. In the top of the 13th inning, McAllister got his revenge on Goodin and the Rangers when he drove in the winning run of what turned out to be a 3-1 win for the Astros-Orange club. McAllisters career peaked out in AA with the Pirates and Goodin, a second year player in the league peaked out after two years of low A ball with the Royals.

Today the league is scattered thoughout Central and Southern Florida in three divisions, however the league does not allow its clubs to play outside of its divisions until playoff time. The league no longer has teams sharing parks as each club plays in its spring training facility.
No MLB team has had more then one team in the league since 1981. As with 2009, all clubs that trained in Florida had a team in the league. Although the league is down one club as the Reds moved to Arizona, where the Ariona Rookie League develops prospects for teams training there. The Arizona Rookie League started in 1988.

Tomorrow, we take a look at the Arizona Rookie Leagues first no-hitter.

It takes a Thief or two

On July 16, 1952 it did not take long for the Omaha Cardinals of the Western League to figure out that their catcher might be in for a long day at Runyon Field in Pueblo, Colorado. In the first inning, catcher Gilbert F. Shirk of the Dodgers in a span of three pitches, stole second on a triple steal, third on a double steal and then home outright. The Dodgers finished with 7 stolen bases in the inning. The Dodgers already had three runs, 2 outs and one stolen base when the fun began. The Dodgers needed all the runs they could get to secure a 13-11 victory. Shirk never got his chance to play in a higher league as he was inducted into the Army following the season and killed in a car crash the following spring.

Tomorrow we will look at an unassisted triple play in rookie ball.

Five strikeouts in one inning

As I have stated previously in this blog, I have been researching the history of sports for well over 20 years. I have in all my research I have only found 5 cases where one pitcher has struck out 5 batters in one game. Interestingly enough, three of the 5 pitchers eventually make it to the Majors. Today we are only looking at one of the pitchers, Michael A. Schultz of the California Leagues' Lancaster Jethawks. On July 15, 2004 Schultz struck out 5 Rancho Cucamonga Quakes batters in the 5 run, 7th inning. The Quakes won the game very easily by a score of 19-3. The Quakes made themselves very much at home at Clear channel Stadium in Lancaster. After the dubious feat, Schultz would receive two promotions and finish the year with the Tucson Sidewinders of the Pacific Coast League. In 2007, he would pitch one inning with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Striking out 5 batters in one inning is an interesting feat and not one that any pitcher would ever strive for, but it does not spell doom for a pitchers chance at a major league career. I have after all this time probably missed a few of these feats and I will undoubtly uncover more times that it occurred, it will be interesting to see how many times a pitcher has done and still reached the big club.

Tomorrow we will look at a club that stole 7 bases in one inning.

A Million for Citation

Today race horses can very easily win a great deal of money in a short period of time. Yet like any other sport milestones never come easy. Lots of times once a big milestone is breeched once it seems to become an easier target to reach. Today we look at the first horse to to have one million dollars in career earnings, Citation.


Citation breeched this milestone in his final career race on July 14, 1951 at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, California. The race was the famous Hollywood Gold Cup with jockey Steve Brooks in the saddle. Today that race carries a $750,000 purse. Citation reached this milestone by winning and winning frequently. At one point in time, he had won 16 major races in a row. After the Hollywood Gold Cup race, Citiation retired and was put out to stud. After his death on August 8, 1970, the Cessna Aircraft Company named a new line of aircraft after Citation.

Tomorrow we look at a five strikeout inning.

The First World Cup Games

With the 2010 Soccer World Cup having been completed and Spain being crowned with their first championship we are going to look back at the begining. On July 13, 1930, the first World Cup games were played at Montevideo, Uraguay. Two opening games were played at the same time different stadiums in Montevideo. At 3 PM both games began, the France-Mexico game at Estadio Pocitos and the USA-Belgium game at Estadio Parque Central. Lucien Laurent of France scored the first goal, when he scored his only goal, in the 19th minute against Mexico. The French went on to win their game 4-1 and the Americans won their game 3-0. Of the four teams believe it or not, the Americans were the only team to make it to the semi-finals, as the other three teams in the semi-finals, were drawn from the the other 9 teams in the tourament. The host team won the finals after beating fellow South Americans from Argentina.

Today the World Cup draws many more teams and plays alot more then the original 18 games in the first tournament, where only 36 players scoring 70 goals in 3 stadiums. This years tournaments 32 countries, 64 matchs saw 145 goals scored in 10 stadiums.

Tomorrow we look at a Horse Racing milestone.

Another Ballpark Fire

On July 20th of 1942 the Amsterdam Rugmakers of the Canadian-American League had scheduled their parent club, the mighty New York Yankees to play an exhibition game agianst them at their home park Mohawk Hills Park in Amersterdam, New York. The plans for this game were in serious trouble when just eight days before the game, intense flames raced through the park. Club officials thought for sure that they would have to call the game off when the saw the remains of the park. Even the metal stands holding the parks lights in place had melted and twisted into odd shapes.

As the remains of the park cooled off, the light stands slowly twisted themselves back in place and the club officials went to work at repairing the damage. They did such a good job, that on the 20th when the Yanks showed up, they were able to play the game and save the team from almost certian ruin. The team was able to complete their season, but the following season was out of the question as the league suspended operations because of World War II. Thanks to modern fire prevention we do not see things like this happen very often anymore. The last ballpark I am aware that suffered this fate was in March of 1985 when Crockett Park in Charlotte, North Carolina burned down.

Tommorrow we will look at the first World Cup Soccer game.

Minors in the Depression

The first minor league was formed in 1877. Until the early 1960s, it was not uncommon for several leagues to fold during the season and a like number of teams to fold in midseason. The Great Depression made it especially challenging for minor league teams to make it through the season. On July 11, 1932 the National Association, the governing body for minor league baseball entered what was probably the deadilest period of their history.

Over the course of the next 13 days, four leagues folded and a fifth league had a close call. The trouble all started when the Decatur, IL and Springfield, IL Clubs of the Three-I League called its quits. The move left four clubs to finish the season. The loss and one more club and the league would be done for the year. The next day, the Danville, IL Club moved into the freshly vacated Springfield market. Three days later, things for the league got worse when the Quincy, IL Club was forced under, ending the leagues season. The scheduled season closer was September 5. The league would be reorganized in time for the 1935 season.

By the time the Quincy Club went under on the 15th, the trouble in the Cotton States League came to a head when the league folded on the 14th. The leagues biggest problem was the DeQuincy, Louisiana Club. The league had tried to transfer the club to Opelousas, Louisiana. The attempt to move the club failed. The league then tried to move the club to Vicksburg, Mississippi. The league needed a loan from the National Association to make the move happen. The loan request was denied and as a result the league folded. The league also had a scheduled season closer of September 5. The league was reorganized as the Dixie League in time for the 1933 season.

Just two days after the Quincy Club and the Three-I League folded, the Eastern League and its eight clubs folded. The Eastern League called it quits after it lost its Bridgeport, CT and Hartford, CT Clubs folded. The Eastern League had a scheduled season closer of September 11. The New York-Pennsylvania League slowly took over the leagues territory over the course of the next six seasons and for the 1938 season changed its name to the Eastern League. Today the league is a 12 club league.

Not all the troubled leagues folded. On the 18th, the day after the eastern League gave up the ghost, the troubles in the Western Association continued. Over the course of the first half or so of the season the league was in constant trouble. Teams seemed to move as often as they went on a road trip. On this date, the Bartlesville, OK and Hutchinson, KS Club merged at Bartlesville and the Topeka, KS Club folded, reducing the league to four clubs. One of the clubs, the Independence, KS Club then moved into the freshly vacated Hutchinson market. This time the moves worked and league was able to finish the season.

One last league was in trouble in this period, strugling to stay afloat. The Arizona-Texas League lost its Albuquerque, NM and Tucson, AZ clubs on the 24th, dropping league membership to three clubs. The league like the Three-I and Cotton States League had a scheduled season closer of September 5. The league would reorganize again in time for the 1937 season season. The real bummer on the part of the Albuquerque Club folding, was that the team had just 3 1/2 months earlier opened a new park with a bang. The park had opened on April 6th with a 43-15 win over El Paso.

Fortunately, minor league baseball was stablized in the early 1960s and has not seen a league or team fold in many years. Even independent baseball has stablized over the last couple seasons despite a sluggish economy. Its been about 5 years now since an indy club has folded in mid season.

Tomorrow we will look at another ballpark fire.

Now That was a Game

Most baseball games that go into extra innings do so because the pitchers have the best of the hitters on any given day. Most games going into extra innings do not so because the home team scored a run in the bottom of the ninth to tie the score at 15 all. Yet on July 10, 1932 in the American League game played at league Park in Cleveland, Ohio this is exactly what happened.

The Cleveland Indians were hosting a slugfest with the Philaldephia A's when the tied the game in the bottom of the ninth inning to send the contest into extra frames with a 15-15 score. With only the second and eight innings being scoreless, the pitching finally took control of the game. The hitters were not heard from again until the 16th inning when the the two clubs traded two run rallies. The A's broke through again in the top of the 18th and their pitchers slammed the door on the Indians to produce an unorthodox 18-17 win in 18 innings.

The A's were led by first baseman Jimmy Foxx who went 6 for 9 with 3 home runs, 1 double, 4 runs scored and 8 RBIs. His last home run accounted for the A's 16th inning runs. The Indians were led by shortstop Johnny Burnett who went 9 for 11 with 2 doubles and 4 runs scored in the 4 hour, 5 minute game. The Indians had 5 of the games 6 errors and 33 of the games 58 hits. Eddie Rommel of the A's led the pitching with a 17 inning relief effort after starter Lew Krausse only lasted an inning.

Tommorrow we move forward just one day with a troubling look at the state of minor league baseball at the height of the Great Depression.

A Couple of Firsts

Today we are marking a couple of firsts when the Sports World. The first was on July 9, 1877 in London, England. On that date the first Wimbleton tennis matches were played. For the first 7 years the mens singles was the only event. The first tournament only 22 players were entered.

Exactly 45 years later, a swimming first occured. American swimmer Johnny Weissmuller became the first swimmer to swim a sub 1 minute, 100 meter freestyle race. Weissmuller swam the course in 0:58.6.

The great thing about sports is that firsts and new records and interesting events can occur on any given day. Tomorrow we travel back to 1932 for a look at .....

A neat baserunning feat

In the lower leagues of minor league baseball, players can sometimes get away with things they cant get away with in the higher levels. Take an event that occurred on July 8, 1981 at Chemeketa Field in Salem, Oregon. In the Northwest League game between the Salem Senators and the Eugene Emeralds, the home team managed to steal three bases in one play. Although the triple steal seems to be a lost art anymore, the Senators managed to do it with only two runners on base.

In the fourth inning with two outs, the Senators had Lonnie Garza on third and James "Sap" Randall on first base. The play began with Randall taking off for second, a throw was made to attempt to catch him at second. When the throw was made, Garza took off for the plate and the fun began. A return throw was made in an attempt to catch Garza, that throw was unsuccessful. When the return throw was made, Randall forgot to stop at second and kept going. The throw to third was just late to catch him. Randall was credited with two stolen bases on the play. Garza went on to play only three seasons of minor league baseball, while randall went on to play 4 games with the Chicago White Sox.

Tomorrow, we are going to look at two first in the Sports World.

PCL Perfect

John T. Halama enjoyed one bright spot in the sun during what has been an otherwise unremarkable pitching career. On July 7, 2001 Halama, while playing with the Tacoma Rainers, greeted the Calgary Cannons at Ben Cheney Stadium in Tacoma, Washington. The Pacific Coast League had entered its 99th season of play in April without a 9 inning perfect game in its recordbook. Halama became the first 9 inning perfect game pitcher that night in league history with a 6-0 gem. Most leagues are not operating after 10 seasons let lone 99 seasons. Many leagues with less then 10 years in their history had nine inning perfect games in their record books. It took less then 2 years for the league to see its second nine inning perfect game. The question now is when will the league see its third?

Tomorrow we will look at a base running feat in the Northwest League.

All-Star Game beginnings

Most of the time I have been using this forum to make light of interesting yet lesser known events in the history of sports. Today I am taking the easy way out. Next week many fans will be watching Baseball All-Star game from Angels Stadium in Anaheim, California, a stadium built less then a mile north of where I was born. How many of todays baseball fans know and understand the history of the All-Star Game.

Being that today is July 6, many of you must be guessing that the first game was played on July 6. You are correct, July 6, 1933 at Comiskey Park in Chicago, Illinois. The game was orginally set up as a one time event by Arch Ward, the Sports editor of the Chicago Tribune. The American League won the game by a score of 4-2. The game was played as a part of the 1933 Worlds Fair. The managers were the recently retired John McGraw formerly of the New York Giants and Connie Mack long time manager of the Philadlephia A's. Mack would go on to manage for 17 more years.

One of the lesser know facts here was that just 2 months later on September 10, Comiskey Park hosted the first ever East-West Game, the All-Star game for the Negro Leagues.

Comiskey Park would host the MLB All-Star game three times, the last was the 50th anniversary game played on, of course, July 6, 1983. When Fred Lynn of the American League came up in the third inning with the bases loaded, he became the first and so far, only player to hit a grand slam in all-star play.

Tomorrow we will talk about a rare event in the Pacific Coast League.

Another Tradition

Yesterday we discussed an event that did not catch on as a Fourth of July tradition, that being the accidental burning down of the local ballpark. Another tradition seemed to make its rounds through minor league baseball in the years before World War II ended. That tradition was team and league failures. Many teams and league depended on a strong gate on the Fourth of July to be able to make through the rest of the season. A weak holiday gate all too frequently would doom a team or a league.

My records indicate that 9 leagues failed on July 5. I also count 17 clubs folding and six franchise shifts being made on July 5. Sometimes, these events are teams giving up for the season and other times they are giving up for good and never heard from again. The leagues that have failed were the 1898 New England League, the 1899 Texas League, the 1900 International League, the 1910 West Virginia League, the 1911 Northeast Arkansas League, the 1915 Buckeye League, the 1915 Rio Grande Valley Association, the 1942 West Texas- New Mexico League and the 1995 Golden League. The 1898 New England League was reorganized the following year and would continue with several other breaks until 1949. The 1898 Texas League was a war time failure and reorganized the following year and except for World War II has operated every year since 1902. The 1900 International League, was not the same as the International League that we know and love today but, a small league in the Michigan-Ontario area. This league was reorganized in 1908. The 1910 West Virginia League gave it one more season in 1913. The 1911 Northwest Arkansas League was reorganized for a 5 year run in 1936. The 1915 Rio Grande Valley Association was reorganized as the Arizona State League in 1928 covering a smaller area until it became the Arizona-Texas League in 1931. The 1915 Buckeye League was clearly the one year wonder as it was never reorganized after its lone season. The 1942 West Texas-New Mexico League was a special exception as it was a war time suspension. The league did reorganize for a long post war run. The 1995 Golden League was another one year run.

For a complete run of July 5 events or the 3 leagues that failed on July 6, please see my website or write me at sabrkev@gmail.com


Tomorrow we look at some MLB All-Star Game history.

Fourth of July fireworks

Fireworks and bonfires have been a part of the fourth of July holiday since the beginning. many Americans have enjoyed these traditions year after year. Sometimes these traditions end up getting out of hand. Take for example, Dugdale Field in Seattle, Washington. On July 4, 1932 a fire at the field burned the park to the ground. The Indians were forced to play at Civic Field for the next 6 years until Sicks Stadium opened in June of 1938.

In 1944 disaster struck again. Oriole Park in Baltimore, Maryland suffered the same fate. The Orioles like the Indians were forced to play in another park for years afterwords. The orioles played at Memorial Stadium even after joining the Aamerican League. Thankfully the loss of a baseball park is not a holiday tradition.

Tomorrow we look at three leagues that failed to complete their only season of play.

The Lone Homer

Some leagues were known as hitters leagues, where a pitcher with a 4.00 ERA might end up winning the ERA title. Some leagues are known as pitchers leagues, where a hitter hitting .299 could win the batting title. Some leagues start out on one side and several years later they will be the other.

The 1952 Georgia-Florida League was most certainly a pitchers league. How can you tell? On July 3, the Cordele A's traveled to Brunswick, Georgia to play the Brunswick Pirates. In the fourth inning, they sent Ralph "Froggy" Betcher to the plate with the bases loaded. A wild pitch and 2 of the Pirates 6 errors on the day emptied the bases, before Betcher homered. It was his first home run of the season. The blast gave him the team lead by himself. Betcher won the team home run title with the one home run. Thats right, the A's hit 1 home run in 139 games.

Perhaps the A's had a power shortage in their lineup? After all the Valdosta Dodgers and the Waycross Bears had 15 home runs each. Three clubs with a combined 31 home runs? How about 4 clubs combining for 56 home runs. The entire league had 186 home runs and batted .242. The Thomasville Tomcats lead the league with 42 home runs. only 12 hitters in the whole league cleared .300 with their batting average. If you were a hitter this was not the league that you wanted to play in.

Tomorrow we will look at a Fourth of July bonfire or two.

Another long game

A hundred years ago, one of the leading outlaw leagues was the California State League. The league had clubs around the San Francisco Bay Area and the surrounding areas. In 1905 the league had 6 clubs, two from San Francisco and one each from Fresno, Lodi, Stockton and San Jose. On July 2, 1905, the Stockton Poppies hosted the Lodi Melon Rollers at Oak Park in Stockton. The Poppies sent Frank Ferguson to the mound to face Frank Ingalls of the Melon Rollers. The game took 3:26 and 23 innings before the Poppies won the game by a score of 1-0. Both pitchers went all the way.

Tomorrow we look at a team that hit one home run in a 140 game season.

Womens League History

Major League Baseball played their first All-Star game in 1933. Many leagues quickly followed suit. The All-American Girls Softball League was no exception. They played their first all-game on July 1, 1943 at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois. The game featured players on the Kenosha Comets and the Racine Belles against the Rockford Peaches and the South Bend Blue Sox. The Wisconsin squad won the game by a score of 16-0.

Exactly 49 years to the day later, the film "A League of Their Own" came out in theatres. The 1992 movie starred Tom Hanks, Geena Davis and Madonna. I am not a fan of Madonna. I have however, spoken with several of the AAGBL players, who coached the cast in how to look like a ballplayer. They all agreed that in the beginning Madonna did not look like a player in the beginning. They said she worked very hard before filming and came out very well in this film. I agree, good job!!

Tomorrow we will look at a 23 inning game.

Follow along please

Usually when a sports team moves from one city to another in midseason, its a fairly easy thing. A team either has poor attendance or their home burns down or even their owner goes broke, then the team finds a new team, gets league permision and starts playing home games in a new city.

Whatever you do, do not tell William Buckley of the Watertown-Massena Club of the Canadian-American League. Buckley was the clubs Business Manager. The team began the season in Watertown, New York. On June 24, 1936 the club began playing their home games in Massena, New York. On June 30, Buckley announced that the club was being transferred to Massena for the remainer of the season. Now keep your eye on the team, where it stops nobody knows. On July 12, the club played a home game, where else?? Watertown, of course. On July 16, Buckley announced that the club would remain in Watertown for the remainer of the season. The biggest thing was that Buckley had never submitted the proper paperwork to the National Association for them to approve the move in the first place. Perhaps he should have paid more attention to how the team was doing on the field as they finished the season with a 35-52 record.

Tomorrow we look at events making history in the All-American Girls League.

One for the books

Baseball games have been postponed for many reasons over the years. Games have been postponed by rain, snow, high winds, excessive cold, fog, invasions and even games postponed by the events of 9-11.

In 1943 the Class E Twin Ports League was struggling to get its four clubs on the playing field despite a very wet spring. By June 29, only 19 of 36 scheduled league games were played. with the wet spring make up games had to be scheduled. The Superior Bayfronters were scheduled to play a game against the Duluth Heralds, one of three clubs in the league from Duluth, Minnesota. The game was forced into the postponement column because league officials failed to consult with the softball league that had the rights to the field before they scheduled the game. when the softball league refused to give the field up, the teams were forced to postpone. League officials were careful after this as only one more league game had to postponed. Unfortunately, it was a little too by then. Three weeks later the league failed. Its place in history as the only Class E to hit the playing field was assured.

Tomorrow we look at a strange franchise shift.

How many records were set?

Professional Baseball was still in its first season of league play when the Philadelphia Athletics Club went to Haymakers Grounds in Troy, New York to play the Troy Haymakers on June 28, 1871. To set the may have set a few records is an understatement, a rather large understatement. Some of the records set that day, stand to this day in the annuals of all of professional baseball history.

So lets get started, first the Athletic Club scored 49 runs, that record stood for almost 31 years. They are still second all-time for runs scored in a single game. The Haymakers scored 33 runs, that record for a losing club still stands. The Athletics out hit the Haymakers 42-32. Both clubs committed 10 errors. Both clubs scored in every inning. The stats for this game were staggering, especially for a game with only 19 players. Sometime during the game, the Athletics chnaged rightfielders. Although he gave 49 runs, Haymaker pitcher John F. McMullen continued in the game, batting sixth and going 3 for 6 with 3 runs scored and 2 RBIs. Athletic pitcher Dick McBride batted second and went 4 for 8 with 7 runs scored and 2 RBIs. 18 players in the haad at least one hit, one run scored and one RBI, only the Athletics replaced rightfielder failed to get an RBI. Only one inning saw a team score in double figures as the Haymakers fourth inning when they scored 10 runs. That must of been a make up for the one run first inning, the only such inning in the game when the Athletics outscored them 2-1.

A game like this today, would take alot longer then 3 hours and 55 minutes to play. The game sure has changed over the years. My gracious thanks to folks at Retrosheet for this one. Tomorrow we look at a weird postponement.

Boxing meets Baseball

Gentleman James Corbett was a great boxer at the end of the 19th century. He was a man who knew how to promote himself. His brother Joe played baseball. In 1895 the two brothers, though 9 years apart in age, they played in a couple of minor leagues together. Over the next few years Gentleman James played one or two games for as many as 29 teams in nine different leagues. On June 27, 1900 he played for the Binghamton Crickets in a game against the Oswego Pirates in a 2-1 win for the Crickets. It is not yet known for sure exactly how many games that he played as the teams for which he played for have not yet fully documented. What better way for a boxer to promote himself was to convince baseball fans, to be boxing fans then to play a few games of ball himself. He must of knew what he was doing.

Tomorrow we look at a very high scoring Baseball game.

A Big Announcement

There once was a time when there was no ESPN on cable television for us sports fans. Then on June 26, 1978 the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network announced that would soon hit the airwaves. You can now tell your friends what ESPN stands for. It stands for ESPN and has since February 4, 1993 since the unweidly title was shortened. After 14 months of preparation, they went on the air on September 7, 1979. The network has made history many times over the years. They are now running 14 channels of sports programing.

Good job to everyone at ESPN!!! Tommorrow we look at a boxing-baseball crossover.

Coming soon ..More Hockey

On June 25, 1997 the National Hockey League was in a very expanding mood. Not since the league took in four World Hockey Association clubs had the league expanded so much. First the league issued a franchise to Nashville, Tennessee for the 1998-99 season. They then issued a franchise to Atlanta, Georgia for the 1999-2000 season. Finally, they issued franchises to Columbus, Ohio and Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota for the 2000-01 season. The moves raised the league membership to its present 30 clubs. To think back in the sixties, the league made the big move, raising its membership from 6 to 12 clubs.

Tomorrow we will look at cable television history.

Lots of Baseball News

Historically, it is hard to pick one event to profile from the archives of June 24. There are games where teams scored lots of runs like the 1937 West Texas-New Mexico League game at League Park in Hobbs, New Mexico. In this game, the Midland cardinals scored a 30-1 victory over the Hobbs Cardinals using 25 hits and 12 walks. There is also the 1978 Midwest League game at Athletic Park at Wausau, Wisconsin. In that game the Quad Cities Angels scored a 32-8 win over the Wausau Mets. The Angels had 20 hits, got 12 walks and left one runner on base. Their third baseman Micheal Bishop had 4 home runs and 10 RBIs. There was also the 1919 International League game at Lauer Park in Reading, Pennsylvania. In that game, the Rochester Hustlers took a 19-0 decision from the Reading Coal Heavers. George Kelly of the Hustlers had 4 home runs. On that same date, 3 Southern Association games ended 1-0, a fourth game was rained out. How often do you see only 3 runs scored league wide in an eight club league, on a day with 4 games scheduled?

Some June 24 games required lots of extra innings. In 1962 the Tiger-Yankee game at Tiger Stadium required 22 innings before the Yankess took a 9-7 win. In 1981, at Sims Legion Park in Gastonia, North Carolina the South Atlantic League game between the Gastonia Cardinals and the Shelby Mets took 22 innings before the Cardinals won 2-1. The innings champ game was played in the Appalachian League at Burlington Athletic Stadium in Burlington, North Carolina. The Burlington Indians lost 3-2 to the Bluefield Orioles in an amazing 27 innings!!

In other words June 24 is a typical day in baseball history. Tomorrow we will look an important day in Hockey history.

Modern Olympic founding

Today we mark the formal founding of the Modern Olympic Games. On June 23, 1896 at the Sorbonne in Paris, France a congress led by Baron Pierre de Coubertin founded the Modern International Olympic Committee and awarded the first modern Olympic Games to Athens, Greece. The Greeks had less then two years to prepare for an April 6, 1896 opening ceremony. A modern sports tradition was born.

Baron de Coubertin was born January 1, 1963 in Paris, France, thus he was only 33 at the time of the congress. He later served as one of the early presidents of the IOC. He died on September 2, 1937 at Geneva, Switzerland. He is buried at Lausanne, however his heeart is buried at Olympia in Greece.

Tomorrow we look at lots of runs, lots of innings and some games with little scoring.