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.

Not a slow news day in Baseball

Some days seem to start as slow news days, while others start out as busy news days. Some slow days start slow and never develop as anything but a slow day. At 5:45 AM on September 11, 2001, I was kind of watching the news on what I thought was a slow day, as they were repeating the same two stories with weather and traffic mixed in. In the course of the next few minutes, I learned it was a very historical day.

On June 22, 1907 was a busy day in baseball news from the beginning. It started as the Burlington, Vermont and the West Manchester, New Hampshire Clubs of the New Hampshire State League folded, causing the league to fail. The league was revived as the Vermont State League on July 2. The New Hampshire State League has an interesting story in itself as the league started out as an eight club league with six clubs in New Hampshire and two clubs in Vermont. The New Hampshire clubs all folded early in the season, making it necessary to reorganize as the Vermont State League. This league should not be confused with the Southern New Hampshire League as that was a four club league, with all the clubs based in Rockingham County. The SNHL started play on July 6 and only played on Sundays.

The second event that captured attention was the 18 inning game at Eagle Park in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The Ohio-Pennsylvania League game was played between the Lancaster Lanks and the Akron Champs. The Lanks won the game 1-0 in 2:45. Another game getting attention was the Western League game at Denver, Colorado. The Omaha Rourkes beat the Grizzlies 16-9, when the Grizzlies committed 9 of the games 15 errors. These events were just the hightlights of many that graced the sports pages on that day.

Tomorrow we look at the founding of the Modern Olympic Games.

Japanese Baseball History

One of the great things about sports history is that it can occur not just anyday, but any place, by anybody. Today we look at a feat that occurred in the Japanese Pacific League. Nigel Wilson was a Canadian born player who had little success in the American Major Leagues. He found success in the Japanese Leagues. On June 21, 1996 while playing with the Nippon Ham Fighters, Wilson hit four home runs in a game against the Kintetsu Buffaloes. The game was played at Fujiidera Stadium in Osaka. The Fighters won the game by a score of 7-5. For the record the nickname of the visiting club was the Fighters, who were owned by the Nippon Ham Company. Wilson became only the second player in Japanese history to record the feat. He would also play for the Buffaloes during his career in Japan.

Tomorrow we look at a busy baseball day in 1907.

A New League

On June 20, 1978 a new womens basketball league was formed. It was called the Women's Professional Basketball League. The announcement at the time of its founding announced that Chicago, Illinois; Dayton, Ohio; Des Moines, Iowa; New Jersey; Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Minneapolis- Saint Paul, Minneasota. The league later added clubs in Houston, Texas and New York to complete an eight club circuit.

The league would play three seasons before it folded. Its second season started with ten clubs, losing two in mid season. Its third and final season started with nine clubs and lost one in midseason. Only three (Chicago, Minneapolis- Saint Paul and New Jersey) of the original six clubs completed the three year run with the league. The league was a great idea at the time, however it found that it was ahead of its time. Had the NBA backed this league at the time, it maybe still going. Long live the WNBA!!

Tomorrow we look at a Japanese Baseball feat.