"The hottest spot north of Havana" from "Copacabana (At The Copa)" - words and music by Manilow, Sussman and J. Feldman...
The occasion was Billy Martin's 29th birthday and Billy the only Yankee sans wife was joined by Mr & Mrs Bauer, Mantle, Berra, Ford and Kucks for a night of celebration at New York's famous Copacabana nightclub in Manhattan...
The genesis of any fight is fuzzy at best but the likelihood of one breaking out in the presence of Billy Martin with buddies Mantle and Ford by his side was expected because 'Billy was Billy', a magnet for mayhem. Words were exchanged between the Yankees and members of a bowling club when one of the members accused Hank Bauer of "striking him". Since this was apparently the only eye witness account of the melee, there's no way of knowing what really happened but it's unlikely that the these two groups sat down over coffee and dessert to discuss their differences before New York's Finest arrived to restore order...
What we do know is that Mantle, Berra, Bauer, Ford and Martin were fined $1,000 each and young pitcher Johnny Kucks, $500. The fines were deducted from the players salary. There was much mending to be done in the press by Yankee GM George Weiss and apparently a rift developed between Weiss and manager Casey Stengel on the fines themselves. As for the charge against Bauer, police refused to take action, although the outfielder was later taken into custody on a citizen's arrest charge. Bauer denied guilt and was quickly released...
The fight at the Copa had no effect on the field as the Yankees would run away with the American League pennant only to lose to the Milwaukee Braves in the world series. Four weeks after the series Billy Martin was traded to the Kansas City A's...
More May 16 Memories...
1866] Congress authorizes minting of the nickel which replaced the "half-dime" (anybody have one of those ?)...
1888] The 1st demonstration of recording on a flat disc was performed by Emile Berliner (contrary to popular belief, Cousin Bruce Morrow did not spin the 1st disc)...
1929] The 1st Academy Awards were presented to the movie "Wings" starring Clara Bow and Gary Cooper. Emil Jannings won the "Best Actor" award for "The Last Command" and "The Way of All Fresh"...
1946] "Annie Get Your Gun" starring Ethel Merman (who could be heard in Secaucus without a microphone) opened on Broadway...
1957] The Yankees play "basebrawl" at the Copa (feature story)...
1963] After 22 orbits of the Earth, Gordon Cooper returns to Earth, ending Project Mercury...
1965] "Uh-oh Spaghetti-O's"...the tiny little pasta "O's" go on sale for the 1st time...
1965] The Beach Boys sing "Help Me Rhonda" on "The Ed Sullivan Show"...
1966] One year to-the-day later, the Beach Boys "Pet Sounds" LP is released...
1976] Wings is #1 with "Silly Love Songs"...
1977] 5 people are killed when a New York Airways helicopter topples over the side of the Pan Am Building in Manhattan, sending the huge rotor blade flying to the street (that helicopter could be seen for weeks from any spot in Manhattan before they were able to get in down)...
1980] Dr. George C. Nichopoulous is indicted in Memphis on 14 counts of overprescribing drugs to Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and 9 other patients (Nah, ya think ?)...
1983] Michael Jackson gives us something we've never seen before, the moonwalk on "Motown 25: Yesterday, Today and Forever"...
1987] Alysheba ridden by Chris McCarron duplicates his Kentucky Derby victory in the Preakness Stakes (But Alysheba will lose the Belmont Stakes in June)...
1987] A barge with over 3,000 tons of garbage sets sail from New York Harbor looking for a home. The barge travels 6,000 miles in search of a place to dump its load but it returns 8 weeks later with the same load...
1988] Which leads to this story: The Supreme Court rules that police do not have to have a search warrant to search discarded garbage (and that's why we have paper shredders)...
1990] Sammy Davis Jr. loses his fight against throat cancer at 64...
1990] "Muppets" creator Jim Henson dies less than 24 hours after being hospitalized with pneumonia. Henson was 53...
1998] Does this sound familiar ? Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones falls off a chair reaching for a book in his Connecticut home, injuring his chest and ribs (the Stones cancel a few dates as a result)...
2000] 1st Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton is nominated for U.S. Senator in New York (lucky us). She becomes the 1st First Lady to run for public office...
2002] The remains of kidnapped Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl are found in Pakistan...
[To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in the timeline]...
Happy Birthday To...
1912] Author Studs Terkel...
1952] Pierce Brosnan...
1955] Olympic gymnast Olga Korbut...
1955] Debra Winger...
1959] Mare Winningham...
1966] Janet Jackson...
1973] Tori Spelling...
[Today is the 136th day of 2006 with 229 days left in the year and 13 days until Memorial Day]...
...
