Wednesday, September 14, 2005

"Turn out the lights, the party's over"...

That's the song that Dandy Don Meredith would start singing whenever a Monday Night Football game was figuratively if not literally over in the 70s. On this day in 1994 the game was baseball and it was over, kaput, finito, period and exclamation point when baseball's acting commissioner Bud Selig called off the rest of the season...

While the players and owners blamed each other for the already 34-day old strike, the end result was the cancellation of not only the rest of the baseball season but for the first time in 89 years, the World Series. Having survived world wars and an earthquake since its inception in 1903, there would be no world series...

When play stopped following the games of August 11th, the Montreal Expos had the best record in baseball, the Yankees, the best record in the American League. Other teams short-changed were division leaders, Chicago and Texas in the American League and Cincinnati and Los Angeles in the National League...

More on the 1994 baseball strike in my commentary...

More September 14 Memories...

1814) Francis Scott Key writes the lyrics for the "Star-Spangled Banner", our official national anthem beginning on March 3, 1931...

1948) Milton Berle begins his TV career on NBC-TV's "Texaco Star Theater"...

1948) A groundbreaking ceremony is held at the site of the United Nation's world headquarters...

1960) Chubby Checker tops the charts with "The Twist", the only song to go to #1 in 2 separate runs, returning in 1962...

1968) The Tigers' Denny McLain becomes the 1st pitcher to win 30 games in 34 years...

1970) Diana Ross tops the charts for the first time as a solo artist with "Ain't No Mountain High Enough"...

1972) "The Waltons" premieres on CBS-TV...

1974) "I Shot the Sheriff" by Eric Clapton tops the charts...

1978) "Mork & Mindy" premieres on ABC-TV...

1981) "Entertainment Tonight" premieres...

1982) Monaco's Princess Grace dies tragically when her car plunges off a mountain road. Former actress Grace Kelly was 52...

1984) The first MTV Awards ceremonies are held at Radio City Music Hall, co-hosted by Dan Aykroyd and Bette Midler...

1996) The Mets' Todd Hundley sets a record for catchers when he hits his 41st home run...

1999) Sheryl Crow and friends stage a free concert in Central Park. Who are the friends ? Sara McLachlan, Chrissie Hynde, Stevie Nicks, Eric Clapton, the Dixie Chicks and Keith Richards, that's all...

1999) Hurricane Floyd closes Disney World for the first time in its 28-year history...

2001) The FBI releases the names of the 19 suspected hijackers who took part in the 911 terrorist attacks. President Bush speaks, using a bullhorn at ground zero...

Happy Birthday to...

1924) Hall of Fame broadcaster Jerry Coleman...

1940) Hall of Fame and now Knicks coach Larry Brown...

1944) Joey Heatherton...

1947) Sha Na Na's Jon "Bowser" Bauman...

1964) Faith Ford...

Commentary...

The 1994 baseball strike would become the longest shutdown in the game's history, surpassing the 50-day strike in 1981. The strike extended 18 games into the 1995 season until a federal judge ordered the owners to return to the rules of the old labor pact...

The game suffered for years with lower attendance figures but took a step in the right direction starting with the inclusion of the wild card in both leagues in 1995. For the first time a team with the second best record in each league had a chance to make the playoffs making for exciting races each year since. This year being no exception...

Don't strike out, be a winner...