Baseball dominates headlines...
There were 3 big stories in baseball, all occurring on the same day from July 22nd to July 24th through the years. Two managers bowed out and the infamous "pine tar" game all happened on July 24th...
In 1965, at age 75 and nursing a broken hip, Casey Stengel decided to call it quits, retiring as manager of the New York Mets. Although the Mets labeled this an "interim" move, the world knew better and one of the greatest and certainly, most colorful managers of all time, was gone forever...
On the same date in 1978, Billy Martin, with tears in his eyes, gave his famous, "One is a born liar, the other a convict" speech. The born liar was Reggie Jackson, the convict, Boss George Steinbrenner. With that statement made, Billy Martin "retired" as Yankee manager...
Once again, same date, different year for the "pine tar" game. The year was 1983 when a homerun was taken away from Kansas City slugger George Brett for having too much pine tar on his bat. The same aforementioned Billy Martin, back as Yankee manager, pointed the excess pine tar out to umpire crew chief Joe Brinkman...More on that game which I attended, in my commentary...
July 22 Memories...
1963) Sonny Liston KOs Floyd Patterson in one round for the heavyweight boxing title...
1967) Vanilla Fudge make their concert debut in New York City...
1974) "Annie's Song" tops the charts for John Denver...
1977) Tony Orlando leaves Dawn while appearing in Cohasset, Massachusetts, announces retirement...
1979) Reverend Richard Penniman, a.k.a. Little Richard, warns his congregation about the evils of Rock and Roll...
1986) #1 song: "Sledgehammer" by Peter Gabriel...
1991) Jeffrey Dahmer is captured, confesses to killing 17 in 1978...
1994) O.J. Simpson pleads "absolutely 100% not quilty" of murder...
1995) Susan Smith found quilty of drowning her 2 children...
2003) Private first class, Jessica Lynch returns home to a hero's welcome...
2003) Saddam Hussein's sons Odai and Qusai killed by U.S. forces...
Happy Birthday to:
1923) Bob Dole...
1924) Margaret Whiting...
1928) Orson Bean...
1932) Oscar de la Renta...
1934) Louise Fletcher...
1939) Terence Stamp...
1940) Alex Trebek...
1941) Secretariat jockey, Ron Turcotte...
1943) Bobby Sherman...
1944) The Ronettes Estelle Bennett...
1947) Danny Glover...
1947) Eagles' Don Henley...
1947) Albert Brooks...
1955) Willem Dafoe...
1964) David Spade...
1965) John Leguizamo...
July 23 Memories...
1904) The ice cream cone is invented in St. Louis...
1966) Napoleon XIV releases "They're Coming to Take Me Away"...
1976) Wings release "Let 'Em In"...
1977) Foreigner's "Cold As Ice" was released...
1984) Vanessa Williams, first black Miss America loses her crown for posing nude in Penthouse, Suzette Charles (Miss New Jersey) replaces her...
1986) Britain's Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson tie the royal knot...
1997) Body of Gianni Versace's murderer, Andrew Cunanan, found...
2000) At age 24, Tiger Woods becomes youngest pro to win a career Grand Slam, in the British Open...
2000) Lance Armstrong wins his second Tour de France...
Happy Birthday to...
1925) Gloria DeHaven...
1928) Calvert (Larry Bud Melman) DeForest...
1938) Ronny Cox...
1940) Don Imus...
1943) Tony Joe White...
1947) David Essex...
1961) Woody Harrelson...
1965) Slash (Guns 'n' Roses)...
1967) Philip Seymour Hoffman...
1973) Nomar Garciaparra...
1974) Law and Order's" Stephanie March...
July 24 Memories...
1956) Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis end their partnership...
1965) The Beach Boys release "California Girls"...
1965) Casey Stengel retires (feature story)...
1969) Apollo 11 astronauts return safely...
1974) Supreme Court rules that Richard Nixon must turn over White House tapes...
1976) Hall and Oates release "She's Gone"...
1978) The movie "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" premieres in New York City...
1978) Yankee manager Billy Martin bows out (feature story)...
1983) Pine tar game (feature story)...
1987) "La Bamba", the movie biography of Richie Valens, premieres...
1993) Met Vince Coleman throws cherry bomb, injuring 3...
1993) Met Anthony Young loses a record 27th straight game...
1995) Frank Sinatra celebrates his 80th year with 3 nights at Carnegie Hall...
Happy Birthday to...
1936) Ruth Buzzi...
1940) Dan Hedaya...
1949) Michael (Kramer) Richards...
1951) "Wonder Woman" Lynda Carter...
1963) Karl (The Mailman) Malone...
1969) Jennifer Lopez...
1970) Kristin Chenoweth...
Commentary...
I and my son, Rob, were at the infamous "pine tar" game in 1983. On a beautiful Sunday afternoon, the Yankees were playing Kansas City with a lead of 4-3 when George Brett stepped to the plate and lost a Goose Gossage fastball in the upper deck in right field to put the Royals ahead 5-4, right ? Well that's what we thought but why was Billy Martin holding up George Brett's bat in his discussion with the umpires. Wait a second, the home plate umpire just ruled Brett out, he took his homerun away, what's going on ? What was going on was that 2 runs were taken away and the score reverted back to 4-3 Yankees...
What followed that decision was a raging, irate George Brett storming out of the Kansas City dugout only to be restrained by his teammates before ripping off home plate umpire, Tim McClelland's head...
Rob and I left that game not knowing that the ruling of too much pine tar on Brett's bat, took away his 2-run homerun. The game would be picked up in the 9th inning and completed on August 24th...
