August 6, 1945: The Atomic Bomb

Actual color photo of Hiroshima after the bombing

August 6, 1945, 80 years ago: For the 1st time, an atomic bomb is used in warfare.

It is World War II. Nazi Germany has already been defeated. The Empire of Japan, however, is holding out. American forces have reached Okinawa, just 400 miles from the Japanese home Islands. 

President Harry S Truman has demanded that Japan surrender. They have refused. So, at 8:15 AM local time -- 6:15 PM on August 5, U.S. Eastern Time -- the Enola Gay, a B-29 Superfortress, dropped a uranium bomb codenamed Little Boy on the port city of Hiroshima, about 500 miles west of Tokyo. It was a tactical choice that would not only kill as many people as possible, but hurt Japan's war effort.

The bomb had roughly the force of 15,000 tons of TNT -- 15 kilotons. It is estimated that 66,000 people were killed instantly, and another 100,000 or so may have died of radiation poisoning within the next year. 

Despite this destruction, Japan still did not surrender. So a 2nd bomb, a 21-kiloton plutonium bomb codenamed Fat Man, was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9. As a smaller city to begin with, about 40,000 were killed at once, and at least that many through radiation sickness.

Finally, on August 14, fearful that the capital of Tokyo, which had already sustained terrible damage as a result of incendiary bombs, would be next, Japan surrendered.

As part of the U.S. occupation of Japan, both cities were rebuilt. Today, Hiroshima is a thriving city of about 1.2 million. Nagasaki is now home to about 400,000.

Hiroshima, 2019. The domed building at left

is the city's official memorial to the bombing.

Truman knew that the bombings were necessary. Had they not happened, the Allies were scheduled to invade the home islands on November 1. The estimates Truman had received from the Department of War suggested that the invasion, and subsequent fighting, would kill 500,000 to 1 million Allied troops, and at least that many Japanese troops, and that victory might not be achieved until well into 1946. So, as horrific as the bombings were, they saved lives, and shortened the war. 

In spite of a few close calls between America and the Soviet Union, atomic bombs have never been used in warfare again. May that remain so.

August 6, 1945 was a Monday. Andy Messersmith, the All-Star pitcher who helped break baseball's reserve clause, was born on this day.

Crossing the Lines

Left to right: Wilford Brimley, Hume Cronyn and Don Ameche, in Cocoon

Today, I learned about The Brimley/Cocoon Line. A feed on BlueSky dedicated it said:

Born Nov. 11, 1974, Leonardo DiCaprio is 18,530 days old today, matching Wilford Brimley’s age on the day ‘Cocoon’ was released. Congrats Leo! You’ve reached the Brimley/Cocoon Line. 

The old people in the movie, released in 1985 and directed by Ron Howard, were Don Ameche, 77; Jack Gilford, about to turn 77; Hume Cronyn, 74; Jessica Tandy, Cronyn's wife, also 74; Herta Ware, 68; Maureen Stapleton, 60; Gwen Verdon, also 60; and Wilford Brimley, described in the film review written for Time magazine by Richard Corliss as "53, but he can pass for old," but, really, only 50. Brian Dennehy, about to turn 47, wasn't yet considered "old." Nor were Steve Guttenberg, 26; Tyrone Power Jr., Tyrone's son, also 26; or Latanee "Tahnee" Welch, Raquel's daughter, 23.

Brimley had become famous the year before, playing Pop Fisher, the manager of the New York Knights, in the film The Natural. He already had white receding hair and a bushy mustache, so he looked considerably older. Having to stand alongside a 45-year-old but still dashing Robert Redford, the Depression setting of the film, the baggy uniform, and the dilapidated condition of the main filming location, War Memorial Stadium in Buffalo, didn't help how he looked.

He later became a spokesman for Quaker Oats, looking older than the old Quaker man on the container; and for diabetes awareness and an insurance company, and lived until 2020. It wasn't COVID that killed him, it was diabetes-aided kidney failure. He was 85, and looked it -- but had looked 85 for years.

Seeing the words "Brimley/Cocoon Line" made me think of the various "age lines" I've crossed. I was born on December 18, 1969, so:

* I outlived every rock star in "The 27 Club," including Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse, on December 18, 1997 -- the day Chris Farley died.

* Thurman Munson died at 32 years, 1 month and 26 days. I outlived him on February 9, 2002.

* Farley's hero, John Belushi, died at 33 years, 1 month and 9 days. I outlived him on January 28, 2003.

* Farley died at 33 years, 10 months and 3 days. I outlived him on October 22, 2003.

* Diana Spencer, former Princess of Wales, died at 36 years, 1 month and 30 days. I outlived her on February 18, 2006.

* Marilyn Monroe died at 36 years, 2 months and 4 days. I outlived her on February 23, 2006. (Elton John wrote his most famous song about Marilyn, then rewrote it for Diana -- and they were almost the exact same age when they died!)

* Lou Gehrig died at 37 years, 11 months and 15 days. I outlived him on December 4, 2007.

* Martin Luther King Jr. died at 39 years, 2 months and 20 days. I outlived him on March 7, 2010.

* John Lennon died at 40 years, 1 month and 29 days. I outlived him on February 18, 2010.

* Robert F. Kennedy died at 42 years, 6 months and 16 days. I outlived him on July 7, 2012.

* Elvis Presley died at 42 years, 7 months and 8 days. I outlived him on July 27, 2012.

* John F. Kennedy died at 46 years, 5 months and 24 days. I outlived him on June 13, 2016.

* The Brimley/Cocoon Line is 50 years, 8 months and 26 days. I reached it on September 13, 2020.

* Babe Ruth died at 53 years, 6 months and 10 days. I outlived him on July 29, 2023.

To match my grandparents, I would have to make it to early 2027, early 2035, early 2048, and late 2051. To match my father, I would have to make it to early 2041. To match my mother's current age, I would have to make it to mid-2048.

To match Donald Trump's current age, I would have to make it to early 2049. But I was more mature than he was when I was 14.

August 5, 1985: The "Dodger Dogs to Fenway Franks" Tour Is Completed

August 5, 1985: Bob Wood sees a baseball game. It's not a particularly noteworthy game. But it does complete a journey: He had set out to visit all 26 Major League Baseball stadiums then in use in one Summer, and had now done it.

Born in 1959 in Kalamazoo, Michigan, he started out as a Detroit Tigers fan. But a visit to Boston in 1975 converted him to the Boston Red Sox, and, while still retaining an affinity for the team that won him the World Series when he was 9 years old, he became one of the Fenway Faithful.

He went to Michigan State University, saw them win the Big Ten Conference title in football in 1978, and became a teacher. By 1985, he was teaching history at a junior high school in Seattle, and going to Mariners games at the Kingdome.

In 1977, he and a friend, Bob Matyas, drove from the MSU campus in East Lansing to Comiskey Park in Chicago, to watch the Red Sox play the White Sox. Sitting near them were two men who had gone to all 26 ballparks. Wood decided that, one day, he would do the same thing. Finally, in 1985, at the age of 26, he made out a schedule, and set out to do it.

He even wrote to all 26 teams, telling him of his plan, and asking for free tickets. After all, while it was Summer, and school was out, and he had the time, he still had a teacher's salary, and was going to be spending a lot of money on lodging and gas for his car. Some teams turned him down, though some sent him letters wishing him well on his trip. But he got free tickets from 12 out of 26: Both New York teams, both Los Angeles area teams, both Pennsylvania teams, both Texas teams, the White Sox, the San Francisco Giants, the Kansas City Royals, and the Milwaukee Brewers.

He also decided to grade every ballpark, like a teacher, judging them on certain categories: Layout and Upkeep, Ball Field, Seating, Scoreboard, Food (further breaking that down into accessibility, selection, cost and taste), Ballpark Employees, Facilities, and Atmosphere. Ballparks with artificial turf and, worse, domes suffered for "Atmosphere."

Having started with his adopted hometown of Seattle, he stopped a hotel in Williams, California, and awoke the next morning to find his hatchback's window shattered and his car robbed. The local police recovered his suitcases intact, but his valuable binoculars were too good for the thief to pass up. He got his window fixed, and moved on.

Later on, the threat of a players' strike suggested that he would fall one park short: The strike was to begin on August 6, the day he was supposed to make Atlanta his 26th and final park. And while the strike was settled after 3 days, he had no way of knowing that at the time: For all he knew, that would be the end of the season, as would eventually happen with the Strike of '94.

The day before the Strike of '85 was to start, Cincinnati was supposed to be Number 25. But he found an open date on his schedule, while he was going through the Midwest, and snuck Cincinnati in there, and move Atlanta up to August 5. He was going to make it -- if only there were no rainouts. As it turned out, there were none, and he made it. Here's how it turned out, with the results of the games, and a sampling of his assessments:

1. June 16, Kingdome, Seattle: "Buy a ticket, step inside, then leave. The place is depressing." Mariners 2, Royals 1.

2. June 19, Candlestick Park, San Francisco: "Nobody seems really intent on presenting baseball as it should be... Just the fact that the sky, whatever shade of gray it happens to be turning at the time, is not covered by a dome and the place has real grass, even if it is weird-looking, makes 'The Stick' bearable. And then just barely." Giants 5, Reds 2. Reds player-manager Pete Rose did not put himself into the game.

3. June 21, Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum: "If you like MTV and baseball, you'll love the way they go together in the Coliseum." (This was before "Mount Davis" was built in 1995-96.) A's 9, Indians 1. Don Sutton started for the A's, and collected his 286th career win. He would go on to win 324.

4. June 23, Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles: "I the custom that Arthur's Knights of the Round Table maintained, true to their principles even amid all the glory showered upon them, Dodger Stadium remains virtuous. In all its elegance it remains in touch with those simple qualities so necessary to the game." (Virtuous? It only exists because of Walter O'Malley's greed!) Dodgers 6, Astros 2.

5. June 24, Anaheim Stadium (now named Angel Stadium of Anaheim): "All the doubts I had rolling into Dodger Stadium -- the glitter, that Hollywood hollowness, that baseball just wouldn't be baseball -- hit home in Anaheim." Indians 2, Angels 1. Bert Blyleven was the winning pitcher.

6. June 26 and 27, Jack Murphy Stadium, San Diego: "Southern California's summer high finds a good friend in San Diego. A mixture of hot sun, fans that finally get up off their butts and cheer, and a scoreboard of such magnitude that it dwarfs all else inside make a game in Jack Murphy California's most energetic."

Padres 10, Dodgers 4; Padres 5, Dodgers 4. This was the 1st time on the trip that he saw 2 games in 1 park. The crowd jumped from 36,113 to a then-sellout of 47,482 for his 2nd game, because Fernando Valenzuela was starting for the Dodgers, and the facility originally known as San Diego Stadium and later as Qualcomm Stadium was only 19 miles from the Mexican border. (Its replacement, Petco Park, is 15 miles from the border.) But the Padres won. In 1996, Fernando started and won the 1st regular-season MLB game in Mexico, pitching for the Padres against the Mets.

7. July 2 and 3, Arlington Stadium, outside Dallas: "Something in the heart, a special sincerity, fights the head and makes the Rangers' home a happy one." Angels 7, Rangers 2; Angels 3, Rangers 2. This 2nd game was his 1st extra-inning game on the trip, going 11 innings.

Wood had been set to watch games in Houston on July 3 and 4, but was so taken with the Rangers' hospitality, they talked him into sticking around for a 2nd game there. After all, while the old Arlington Stadium was a frying pan, he knew that he wouldn't get cheated out of a game in Houston: It was impossible to get a rainout at the Astrodome. (With one exception, a 1976 game when the city was flooded.)

8. July 4, Astrodome, Houston: "To the baseball world Houston's tomb provides a new low in charisma, a bottom-of-the-ballpark barrel." It just didn't seem right to him to spend the 4th of July indoors. Expos 9, Astros 3, in 12 innings.

9. July 6, Royals Stadium (now named Kauffman Stadium), Kansas City: "A totally professional atmosphere makes Royals Stadium one of the majors' best... A first-class sight brings on that first-class air. Together they create a first-class feeling." Orioles 8, Royals 3.

Royals Stadium as it appeared in 1985

10. July 7, Busch Memorial Stadium, St. Louis: "A fiery excitement flows through Busch. It can be found in many places. Loud and red, enthusiastic fans have fun under the push of the big city." Cardinals 7, Dodgers 1. This turned out to be a preview of the National League Championship Series, which the Cardinals also won, before losing the World Series to the cross-State Royals in controversial fashion.

11. July 9 and 10, Wrigley Field, Chicago: "As thick as they ivy that hugs its red brick walls, the very essence of baseball hangs in the atmosphere of Wrigley. Not only the ballpark itself, with its vine-covered walls and hand-operated scoreboard, but the folks that grace the place are why Chicago's North Side park is the purest in baseball." Cubs 7, Padres 3; Cubs 4, Padres 3.

After this one, he took a little decompression break, which included the All-Star Break, and visited his family in Kalamazoo, their house being a convenient home base for his Midwestern trips, not to mention free.

12. July 16, Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, Minneapolis: "Maybe the next time Minneapolis decides to put something up in their lovely city they won't mind adding in a few options, paying a few more dollars, and buying something other than the stripped-down economy model."

This was the All-Star Game: National League 6, American League 1. Jack Morris, a St. Paul native then with the Tigers, started and lost for the AL. But he would pitch a 10-inning shutout for the Twins in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series, the greatest moment in the Metrodome's history.

When Wood wrote Big Ten Country, and had to visit the Metrodome again to see a University of Minnesota home game, he doubled down: "Now, don't get me wrong. It's not that I don't like Minneapolis. How can you not like Minneapolis?... No, Minneapolis is lovely. It's the Metrodome that sucks!" He got his wish: UM moved back on-campus with Huntington Bank Stadium in 2009, the Twins built Target Field in 2010, and the Vikings played the 2014 and '15 seasons at UM's stadium while the Metrodome was demolished and U.S. Bank Stadium was built on the site. All 3 were vast improvements.

13. July 18, Milwaukee County Stadium: "Beer, bratwurst, and baseball -- what a combination!... From the players' rousing introduction to the organist's clap-alongs, a ball game at County Stadium is a treat for all the senses." Mariners 5, Brewers 2.

14. July 19, Comiskey Park, Chicago: "Like an enchanted castle, Comiskey infects those who pass through. It makes them a little crazier, a little looser, a little more fun-loving. It touches its visitors with a light heart and offers the kind of magic that only 75 years of good hard living can create."

White Sox 1, Indians 0. The only run came on a home run by one of Wood's former Boston heroes, Carlton Fisk. Tom Seaver outpitched Bert Blyleven, for his 298th career win. Both pitchers went the distance, despite Seaver being 40 years old, and Blyleven 36. Between them, they would win 598 games, and strike out 7,341 batters.

15. July 20, Riverfront Stadium, Cincinnati: "Talk about a transition. Comiskey bubbled with excitement. A full-housed Riverfront was almost soundless... Instead of a let-it-all-hang-out kind of spirit, we found a place that only a librarian could appreciate.... Their attitude, while commendable at the public library, was weird for a baseball game." Phillies 10, Reds 6. Despite being at home, Rose did not put himself into this game, either.

16. July 21, Tiger Stadium, Detroit: "At its heart, the park's a classic beauty. Entering through its gates, you make a special pact with baseball. The graceful spirit of Tiger Stadium makes up for all the frustrations along the way." Rangers 7, Tigers 5.

17. July 23, Canadian National Exhibition Stadium, Toronto: "Somehow, someway, baseball in Exhibition Stadium survives. On a silly-looking football field, surrounded by cold aluminum benches, the Blue Jays keep on winning. Blue Jay fans keep on coming. And the sea gulls keep on munching. All three should be awarded baseball's congressional medal of bravery -- players and fans for an iron will in taking on such an ugly place, and the gulls for having iron stomachs." Blue Jays 4, Mariners 2.

18. July 24, Olympic Stadium, Montreal: "Shaped like a spaceship, overhung by a death-ray concrete eye, surrounded inside by that silly-looking sprint-lined warning track, and filled with plastic seats and silent fans, in a strictly baseball sense... it's a disaster. Other factors are at work, though... I relished the idea that major league baseball was fortunate enough to enjoy the flavor of Montreal... as only it could be, both in French and English." Expos 3, Braves 1.

19. July 26 and 27, Fenway Park, Boston: "Boston's charming ballpark is surviving, and it does so without sacrificing integrity. Despite a little cosmetic primping, the very heart of the game, the people, and the park itself remain caught in time. Fenway today is baseball as it was in years past, and as pure as it will ever be again in the future." (This was, of course, before not just the various renovations that brought Fenway into the 21st Century, but before the cheating scandals that brought the Red Sox World Series glory at last, but also shame and scandal.)

Fenway Park as it appeared in 1985

His adopted "home team" and his adopted favorite team played each other, and each won a game: Red Sox 6, Mariners 2; Mariners 10, Red Sox 3.

20. July 28, Veterans Stadium, Philadelphia: "Despite an ugly ball field, housed by an ugly stadium, surrounded by an ugly parking lot, the game goes." Phillies 7, Braves 3.

21. July 29 and 30, Memorial Stadium, Baltimore: "Baseball in Baltimore is fun. A solid tradition, enjoyed by nice people, both sitting and serving, the game gets the sincerity it deserves." Blue Jays 4, Orioles 3; Orioles 4, Blue Jays 3. Both games went 10 innings.

22. July 31, William A. Shea Municipal Stadium, New York: "What the Queens park fails to do, and what Yankee Stadium, in a nastier section of town, does so well, is leave New York's ill feelings on the outside streets. Shea's not immune to the problems of the world, it's immersed in them." Mets 5, Expos 2.

23. August 2, Yankee Stadium, New York: This was the ultimate challenge -- not just for a Red Sox fan, but for any baseball fan: Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, during the bad old days of the Ed Koch Eighties in New York. Wood wrote: "Comiskey's neighborhood is nasty. Tiger Stadium has plenty of dangerous places nearby. And Oakland is a dive. The Bronx, though, is worse. It's slime... Yankee Stadium is a beauty, an oasis thriving in the ugliness of city slums, as well planned as any the burbs have... Yankee Stadium has it all: Sky, green grass, and good hard-core fans. Had it no history, I'd still have had a grand time. But the place adds something intangible, a spark that can't be bought by any ballpark. That great Yankee tradition hangs in the air."

I remember the game he saw. I had a nasty headache when it began, and, watching it on WNBC-Channel 4 -- a rare non-Saturday broadcast for the Peacock network -- it didn't get any better. In the bottom of the 7th inning, with the game tied 3-3, Rickey Henderson singled, but Bobby Meacham, not sure if the ball would be caught or not, got caught coming off 2nd base, and he ran for 3rd too late. Both he and Dale Berra, who had been on 1st, ran through the stop sign of 3rd base coach Gene Michael, allowing both of them to be tagged out by Chicago White Sox catcher Carlton Fisk, making for the strangest double play I've ever seen.

It cost the Yankees the game: Despite 2 home runs by Don Mattingly and another by Dave Winfield, the White Sox won, 6-5 in 11 innings. The winning run was scored by Ozzie Guillén, the ChiSox' shortstop and future manager, a genius/maniac every bit as much as the Yankee manager in this game, Billy Martin (on his 4th go-round). Attendance: 27,118.

24. August 3, Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh: "Just another three-level plastic clone, this one with a lousy team and hardly any fans around to watch 'em lose, the spirit inside Three Rivers challenges the Kingdome as baseball's biggest bore." Expos 6, Pirates 5.

25. August 4, Cleveland Municipal Stadium: "Baseball anywhere can be beautiful, even in a clumsy-looking, empty warehouse on the shores of Lake Erie." Orioles 5, Indians 4.

On this day, pitching for the White Sox against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium, Tom Seaver collected his 300th win. Across the country, playing for the Angels against his former team, the Twins, Rod Carew collected his 3,000th hit.

26. August 5, Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, completing the journey: Noting that it was one of the 1960s multipurpose jobs, Wood was surprised to see real green grass and real red dirt. "After the dirt, though, the place deteriorates and its charm evaporates, drowned out in a circus of garbage and smoke. Well-planned walkways fill up with crap; well-ordered rest room ooze with wastepaper. Chain-smoking employees plod about like the junk isn't even there. Meanwhile, circus music fills the air. Clanging away, turned to only God knows what fake instrument, the organist's preludes seemed more in tune to high-wire trapeze acts than a baseball game. And the fans, the just quietly sat around like they didn't know the difference."

And the home team, the Atlanta Braves? They lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-1. Ken Landreaux hit a home run for the Dodgers. Jerry Reuss, who'd pitched a no-hitter for the Dodgers in 1980, outpitched Len Barker, who'd pitched a perfect game for Cleveland the following year. Barker was relieved by Rick Camp, who, a month earlier, had stepped to the plate in the bottom of the 18th inning, with a lifetime batting average of .060, because he was the last player on the roster, and hit a game-tying home run against the Mets, before losing in the 19th.

It was over. He'd done it: 26 ballparks, 31 games, 11,636 miles in 51 days. In the end, he ranked Dodger Stadium and Royals Stadium tied for 1st, and the Astrodome and Exhibition Stadium tied for last. After Royals Stadium, which no longer has the plastic stuff, the Olympic Stadium, 15th, was the highest-ranking artificial turf stadium; Candlestick Park, 24th, the lowest-ranking one with real grass. Yankee Stadium was 13th, Shea Stadium 19th. His beloved Fenway, 6th; his original home park, Tiger Stadium, 12th.

Aside from the All-Star Game in Minneapolis, with a sellout crowd of 54,960, the largest crowd on his trip was in San Diego: 47,482. The smallest was in San Francisco: 8,490. Even Cleveland had more, with their game being on a Sunday.

Wood completed his tour 3 days later, just ahead of the strike that began the next day, lasting 3 days. In 1988, he published his account of the trip, "Dodger Dogs to Fenway Franks." That year, the Michigan State University graduate went to all the Big Ten schools' football games, and, 2 years later, published "Big Ten Country." Now 66, he is retired from teaching.

Bob Wood, attending a Washington Nationals game

at Nationals Park in Washington, in 2008.

Neither the team nor the stadium existed during his 1985 trip.

Since his trip, the Colorado Rockies, the Miami Marlins, the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Tampa Bay Rays have been added; and the Montreal Expos have moved, becoming the Washington Nationals. Of the 26 ballparks he went to, only 6 are still in use: Fenway, Wrigley, Royals/Kauffman Stadium, the Oakland Coliseum, and both Los Angeles-area stadiums. The Astrodome is still standing, but no one is using it. (UPDATE: The Athletics moved out of Oakland after the 2024 season, though the Coliseum still stands.)

And the various multipurpose stadiums of built in the 1960s and '70s have been replaced by "retro" ballparks designed to look like the ones built early in the 20th Century, and even the ones built with retractable roofs and end up looking like airplane hangars have old-timey touches like hand-operated scoreboards. Artificial turf has fallen out of fashion. And instead of being built on the outskirts of cities, or in the suburbs, downtown, making for non-car accessibility, has been the way to go, for all the major sports. Since Camden Yards opened in Baltimore in 1992, both comfort and atmosphere have been in.

Wood's book was not a best-seller, but it sold enough copies to inspire several fans to make their own journeys to all 26 ballparks -- after 1993, to all 28; and then, after 1998, all 30 -- and, in some cases, all in one season. A few rich and foolhardy souls who don't mind getting on a lot of planes have attempted 30 parks in 30 days. In the 2005, '06 and '07 seasons, the YES Network took 4 lucky fans (different ones each season) to see all 162 Yankee games, home and away, for a series titled Ultimate Road Trip.

I, myself, took Wood's book with me on my visits to Baltimore, Boston, Montreal, Toronto, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago and Milwaukee, to use as a reference, despite it already being out of date. (In the cases of Toronto and Cleveland, the stadiums in question had already been replaced.)

Since there are 92 "clubs," in 4 Divisions, in England's Football League, some fans there have managed to "Do the 92." Despite the large number, it's not as hard as it sounds, because of the traveling: England is a considerably smaller country, and so, instead of 3,092 miles from Fenway Park in Boston to Oracle Park, current home of the San Francisco Giants, the longest roadtrip in English football is from Newcastle United's St. James' Park to Plymouth Argyle's Home Park, and that's only 408 miles. And England has better public transportation, whereas some U.S. sports venues have poor public transit links. And, since the schedule (or "fixture list," as they'd say over there) makes it impossible, nobody tries to do it all in one season.

Is This Rock Bottom for the Yankees? I Hope So

"You know, Suyzn, you just can't predict baseball." Retired Yankee broadcaster John Sterling would say that to his broadcast partner, Suzyn Waldman, at least once a game.

Except the sport is more predictable than that. The Yankees, as a team and as an organization, even more so.

For example: This weekend's series against the Miami Marlins, at LoanDepot Park in Miami. In Friday night's game, Giancarlo Stanton, Trent Grisham and Anthony Volpe hit home runs for the Yankees. Volpe had maybe the best game of his career, going 4-for-5 with 2 RBIs. And, through 4 innings, Carlos Rodón had allowed 3 walks, but no hits. It was Yankees 6, Marlins 0.

Once that 6-0 lead began to crumble, it wasn't hard to predict that they would lose the game. In the bottom of the 5th, between them, Rodón and Jonathan Loáisiga allowed 4 runs on 3 hits, 2 walks and a hit batsman.

And those new relievers that Brian Cashman picked up? Three of them appeared in this game: Jake Bird, David Bednar and Camilo Doval. None of them got the job done. The Yankees led 9-4 going into the bottom of the 7th, and 12-10 going into the bottom of the 9th. Final score: Marlins 13, Yankees 12.

The Marlins' last 5 innings, they scored 4, 0, 6, 0 and 3 runs. 40603. That's a ZIP Code in Frankfort, the capital of Kentucky.

And once that game was lost, it wasn't hard to predict that the Yankees would lose the next 2 because they'd already used up all their runs.

Rookie Cam Schlittler allowed only 2 runs in 5 innings, while Bird, Luke Weaver and Tim Hill allowed only 1 baserunner the rest of the way. But here's all the baserunners the Yankees got: A walk and a stolen base by Grisham in the 1st, followed by a single by Stanton, on which Grisham was thrown out at home plate; a walk by Jazz Chisholm in the 2nd, and he was erased on a double play; a double by Ben Rice and a walk by Paul Goldschmidt in the 5th, but they got stranded; and then absolutely nothing the rest of the way. Marlins 2, Yankees 0.

Losing 13-12, then losing 2-0. If they could have just taken 3 of the previous day's runs and applied them to that day's, or taken some of Saturday's great pitching and apply it to Friday... Alas, it doesn't work that way.

Last season's Rookie of the Year, Luis Gil, had been injured all season. He made his debut yesterday. He could have used one more minor-league rehab start: He went 3 1/3rd innings, allowing 5 hits on 5 runs and 4 walks. The bullpen was okay after that, but it didn't matter. Grisham led off the game with a home run, and he drew a walk in the 3rd. Jasson Domínguez led off with a single in the 5th, followed by Marlins starter Edward Cabrera striking out the side.

Stanton led off the 7th with a single, and Chisholm hit a home run. After 2 strikeouts, Volpe hit a triple, and there seemed to be hope, but Austin Wells flew out. Grisham led off the 8th with a walk, and Chisholm led off the 9th with a single, but both were stranded. Marlins 6, Yankees 3. The sweep was complete.

After yesterday's game, Aaron Boone, in his capacity as Yankee press secretary, taking the hard questions so that actual manager Brian Cashman doesn't have to, spouted his share of platitudes:

* "Every year is different. Every group's a little bit different. I have a lot of confidence in our team."

* "I don't even know if we're necessarily that far into anything."

* "It's getting to be real gut-check time. It's getting late. It's certainly not too late for us, and I am confident that we're gonna get it together, but that's all it is right now. It's empty until we start doing it." (A variation on Yogi Berra's line, "It gets late early out there.")

On May 28, the Yankees led the American League Eastern Division by 7 games. Now, they are 4 1/2 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays, and a game and a half behind the Boston Red Sox. They lead the Seattle Mariners by just half a game for the last AL Wild Card berth, and 2 1/2 games over the Texas Rangers, with whom they start an away series tonight.

Since June 6, the Yankees have gone 22-29. The Chicago White Sox, the Sacramento Athletics and the Pittsburgh Pirates are each in last place in their respective Divisions, and all have played better than that since then. Not just record-wise, either: There's been swinging at bad pitches, lots of errors -- although Domínguez has significantly improved in left field, and Ryan McMahon has been the answer at 3rd base, at least defensively -- and baserunning blunders.

Sometimes a team has to "hit rock bottom" before it can work its way back up. I hope this is rock bottom for the Yankees.

But, as we have seen, it might not be.

One bit of good news: Aaron Judge is eligible to come off the Injured List tomorrow night. Hopefully, having his bat back in the lineup will help. Hopefully, the newly bulked-up bullpen will pitch like they did yesterday and the night before, and not like they did the night before that.

Enough hope. I want results. Starting tonight.

Right, that makes me sound like Leon Hess. In 1995, the owner of the Jets said, "I'm 80 years old. I want results now!" And he hired Rich Kotite. And he went 3-13. And 1-15 the next year. And he quit. And Hess hired Bill Parcells. And Parcells got the Jets into the AFC Championship Game in 2 years. And then Hess died.

Hey, Yankees: I want results. Would it help if I said, "Please?"

August 4, 1985: Rizzuto, Seaver & Carew

August 4, 1985, 40 years ago: It is a special day in baseball. Three legends of the game receive proper honor. But only one of them was actually scheduled.

The New York Yankees were scheduled to play the Chicago White Sox on a Sunday afternoon at the original Yankee Stadium. It was Phil Rizzuto Day, and Rizzuto, known as "the Scooter," the beloved Yankee shortstop (1941-56) and broadcaster (since 1957, eventually retiring after 1996), was going to have his Number 10 retired, and a Plaque dedicated in his honor for Monument Park.

I was 15 years old, and, with my parents' permission (they, along with my grandmother, would be going with me), I called Ticketmaster the preceding Tuesday, and ordered the tickets, neither knowing nor caring who would be the day's opposing starting pitchers.

The next day, Wednesday, the starters for the Sunday game were announced: Joe Cowley for the Yankees, and Tom Seaver for the White Sox.

At that point, Cowley had 19 career wins, a total that would eventually rise to 33. Seaver had 299 career wins, a total that would eventually rise to 311.

In other words, the man that New York Met fans (for whom he won 199 of his 311) called "Tom Terrific" and "The Franchise" would be going for his 300th win, and I would be there.

Interestingly, while Seaver had made the uniform Number 41 iconic in baseball, Cowley was also wearing it for the Yankees at the time.

The ceremony for Rizzuto was great. Several of his Yankee teammates showed up, including Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford. This was the first time I'd ever seen either of them in person.

Ex-teammate Yogi Berra was not there, having recently been fired as manager by team executive Clyde King on behalf of team owner George Steinbrenner, and having begun was turned out to be a 14-year boycott of the Yankee organization.

Ex-teammate Joe DiMaggio wasn't there, either. I don't know why. Considering the kind of praise he frequently had for Rizzuto, the only reason I can think of is his egotistical insistence on always being the last man introduced, which wouldn't have happened on another figure's Day.

In reference to two of the Scooter's favorite expressions, one of his gifts was a cow with a papier-mache halo, a "Holy Cow," named "Huckleberry."

That cow, paying no heed to the halo or to Rizzuto being just 5-foot-5 and 150 pounds, or 67 years old for that matter, stepped on his foot, causing him to fall backwards. There was a lot of gasping in The House That Ruth Built. Fortunately, Rizzuto was all right.

And he gave a speech in which he said, "This means more to me than the Hall of Fame ever could." This elicited a big cheer from the Bronx faithful, since he had not yet been elected to the Hall.

But it was a lie, and he knew it. In 1994, 9 years later, he found out just how big a lie it was, as he was finally, rightfully elected, and Yankee Fans everywhere rejoiced that he'd gotten his due while he was still alive.

It was a gorgeous Summer Sunday afternoon: Not too hot, no discernable wind. The field at the old Yankee Stadium was immaculate. Cliché Alert: It was a beautiful day for baseball.

From our box seats in Section 35 in right field -- right around the spot where Roger Maris' 61st home run of 1961 landed (although it was Section 33 in the pre-renovation configuration), we had a decent view. And we were surrounded by other Yankee Fans. This would turn out to be very helpful.

In the bottom of the 3rd inning, with the game scoreless, Mike Pagliarulo led off with a single to right. Bobby Meacham flew to center. Rickey Henderson grounded to 2nd, but Bryan Little couldn't make the double play, and threw Henderson out at 1st, allowing Pags to advance to 2nd. Ken Griffey Sr., not nearly as good as his son. but still a very good player at this stage of his career, singled to right, scoring Pags. Yankees 1, White Sox 0.

The Yankees still led 1-0 after 5 innings. But the White Sox struck back in the top of the 6th. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Yankee starter Joe Cowley issued a leadoff walk to, somewhat appropriately, Greg Walker. Longtime Yankee nemesis Carlton Fisk grounded into a force play, getting to 1st as Walker was eliminated by Willie Randolph. But Oscar Gamble singled Fisk over to 3rd.

Billy Martin, in his 4th term as Yankee manager, dismissed Cowley, and brought in Brian Fisher. The Pale Hose hadn't yet scored. Now, they would. Tim Hulett tied the game with a double, bringing home Fisk. Ozzie Guillén, who would later manage the White Sox to a World Series win, gave the South Siders the lead by singling home Gamble. Luis Salazar grounded to short, enabling Andre Robertson to eliminate Guillén, but that left 1st and 3rd with 2 outs. Vance Law drew a walk to load the bases. Little singled home Hulett and Salazar. Harold Baines singled to left, but Dan Pasqua threw Law out at the plate.

As the Scooter would have said, "But the damage is done. I tell ya, Bill White, this is unbelievable." In the space of less than 10 minutes, the Yankees had gone from 1-0 up to 4-1 down, and were very nearly 5-1 down.

Seaver set the Yankees down in order in both the 6th and the 7th. In the 8th, he began to tire, allowing singles to Bobby Meacham and Don Mattingly, but worked out of it. Tony La Russa, noted bullpen tinkerer, was the White Sox manager at the time, but he trusted the veteran from Fresno, California to finish the job he began, and to still be on the mound to accept congratulations on Number 300 after the final out.

If Seaver's milestone had been the whole story, that would be enough of a memory. But it wasn't.

For the out-of-town scoreboard told another story -- and led to another, very shocking story. New York was playing Chicago in the National League as well, the Mets vs. the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. By a wacky turn of events, this one also ended 4-1, in favor of the Mets, who were closer to 1st place at that point in the season than at any time since 1969. (When they won the Pennant in 1973, they were in last place on August 4, before going on a tear.)

And Dwight Gooden, the most heralded Met pitcher since Seaver (the most heralded, and probably even more hyped), went the distance. For some reason, I remembered him striking out 16 Cubs that day. He struck out "only" 6. He did have a 16-strikeout game that season, on August 20, a 3-0 home win over the San Francisco Giants.

The crowd at Yankee Stadium that day sure looked like it was about evenly split between Yankee Fans hoping for a win, and Met fans hoping to see Seaver win his 300th.

This was 1985. It was the peak year of soccer hooliganism in England, including the Millwall-Luton riot in an FA Cup Quarterfinal on March 13, and the Heysel Stadium disaster at the European Cup Final between Liverpool and Italy's Juventus in Brussels, Belgium on May 29, which resulted in English clubs being banned from European play for 5 seasons. (In each case, click on the 1st link for details, and the 2nd link for video.)

When the Mets-Cubs score went up on the out-of-town scoreboard, a "Let's Go Mets" chant went up from the visiting Met fans. After about 10 seconds of shock from the home fans, this blasphemous utterance was followed by a "Mets suck" chant. This was followed by a fight, and I couldn't tell which side started it: The Yankee Fans (indicating an overreaction) or the Met fans (indicating that their blue and orange skins were very thin). Whoever started the fight, it started small, then got bigger. Much bigger.

I've seen Yankees-Red Sox at the old Stadium, the new Stadium, and at Fenway Park. I've been to hockey games at Madison Square Garden, the old Boston Garden and the new Philadelphia arena. But I've never seen as much fighting at a sporting event as I saw that day. There were hundreds of people throwing punches. Most of it, including easily the worst of it (but not all of it), was in the Bleachers, and the proto-Bleacher Creatures were taking no shit from the infiltrating 7 Line Army.

There must have been about 50 people ejected by the Burns security officers. At the time, an English "football" crowd would have called that "just another matchday." An American baseball fan would call it "disgraceful." The game went on, and I have no idea if any of the players involved knew about the fighting.

The Yankees did threaten in the bottom of the 9th. Pasqua led off with a single. Seaver reared back, and, in that familiar overhand throw with his right knee brushing the mound, struck Ron Hassey out. He got Randolph to fly to right. But he walked Pagliarulo.

That brought the tying run to the plate, but it was the pathetic Meacham, then batting an inept .232. Billy knew that he needed baserunners. Surely, he was remembering the play 2 nights earlier, when Meacham got caught between 2nd and 3rd, not knowing if a Henderson fly ball would drop for a hit, which it did, and then stumbling, resulting in himself and Yogi's son Dale Berra both running through 3rd base coach Gene Michael's stop sign, and both being tagged out at the plate by Fisk. So Billy went for broke, sending up Don Baylor to pinch-hit.

Baylor was 36, and wasn't hitting much better, .239, but his OPS was .796, .188 higher than Meacham's. And he did end up with 24 doubles, 23 home runs and 91 RBIs that season. So, on paper, it was a good move. (Cliché Alert: The game isn't played on paper, it's played on grass. Had the game gone to extra innings, Billy probably would have sent Andre Robertson out to play shortstop.)

Seaver was 40, had gone the distance, was in his 2nd straight struggling inning, and had to be gassed at this point. But he reared back, reached into his bag of tricks -- one of the greatest arrays of "stuff" any pitcher has ever had -- fired, and his pitch reached the inside corner, a perfect strike.

But Baylor swung, and connected. In almost any other ballpark -- even the White Sox' home of Comiskey Park, a notoriously poor one for hitters as opposed to its windy, ivy-walled North Side NL counterpart -- this might have been a game-tying home run. But in the old Yankee Stadium, with its left-center "Death Valley," it was just a long fly. Reid Nichols, who had replaced Law in left field for Chicago, caught it. Ballgame over. White Sox win.

All 54,032 in attendance rose as one to applaud Seaver off the field, just as La Russa had intended. Yes, at age 40, he pitched a complete game. Tom Terrific had allowed just 1 run, 6 hits, and just 1 walk. He had notched 7 strikeouts, 1 more than Gooden did that day, and the much-hyped "Doctor K" was, literally, half his age. Truly, we had seen a master of his craft at work.

From Section 35, the last section of box seats in right field, I had a great view of the Bleachers (and the fighting), and, although in the outfield, I had a good view of Seaver and the strike zone. Though I hate to lose and I hate the Mets, all I could do was stand and tip my cap to Seaver. It was the only time I ever saw him pitch live.

As my man Reggie Jackson, who struggled against him in All-Star Games and late in their careers when both were in the AL, but hit an RBI double off him in Game 6 of the 1973 World Series, once said of Tom Seaver, "Blind people come to the park, just to listen to him pitch."

The entire broadcast of the game is available on YouTube, if you're so inclined. Here's the last out.

Speaking of Reggie Jackson, he was present for another big milestone on the same day. He was with the California Angels (now named the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim), as was another future Hall-of-Famer, Rod Carew. They were playing Carew's former team, the Minnesota Twins, at Anaheim Stadium (now named Angel Stadium of Anaheim).

In the bottom of the 3rd, Carew batted against Frank Viola, and singled. It was his 3,000th career hit. It was his only hit of the day, going 1-for-5.

He was batting just .264 at the time, and retired at the end of the season. It was a far cry from his multiple batting titles in the 1970s, including a run at .400 in 1977, when he ended up at .388, with 14 homers, tying a career high, his only 100-RBI season, a Gold Glove, and the AL Most Valuable Player award, despite the Twins finishing nowhere near the Playoffs.

Carew was a legend, not fully appreciated by Calvin Griffith, the racist cheapskate who inherited the original Washington Senators from his uncle Clark, moved them to Minnesota, and then pissed off fans and players alike. Like Reggie, Rod was welcomed with open arms by "Singing Cowboy" turned media mogul and Angels owner Gene Autry.

When the news of Carew's 3,000th hit went up on the scoreboard at Yankee Stadium, everybody cheered: Yankee Fans, Met fans, and the few White Sox fans in attendance, even though Carew never played for any of them.

Managed by Gene Mauch, The Angels won, 6-5, despite Kirby Puckett's 3 RBIs for Minnesota. Reggie pinch-hit for Dick Schofield in the 8th, and grounded to 1st, resulting in a force play. He was stranded on 1st. Attendance: 41,630 -- far from a sellout, as this was the era (1980 to 1996) when The Big A had a capacity of 65,000, enabling the Los Angeles Rams to play home games there -- but, considering that Carew was on 2,999 hits, and any at-bat could be Number 3,000, a decent crowd.

There was no distraction up Interstate 5: Tommy Lasorda's Los Angeles Dodgers were in Cincinnati, where they lost to Pete Rose's Reds 5-4. Rose, MLB's last player-manager, did not put himself into the game. He had 4,168 hits in his career. At the time, the record was considered to be 4,191, by Ty Cobb. On September 11, 1985, Rose collected his 4,192nd hit. With a duplicate game found in Cobb's record, his total was officially reduced to 4,189, meaning Rose actually broke the record on September 8.

The Yankees finished the 1985 season 97-64, 2 games behind the Blue Jays in the American League Eastern Division. The Mets finished it 98-64, 3 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League East.

The Chicago teams? The Cubs, defending NL East Champions, had been slammed by the injury bug, and went from 96 wins to 77, a 19-game drop -- or from 6 1/2 games ahead of the 2nd-place Mets in '84 to 23 1/2 games behind the Cards, their arch-rivals, in '85, by that measure a whopping 30-game slide. The White Sox finished 6 games behind the Royals in the AL West.

There was no Central Division in either League in those days, meaning you had to finish ahead of 6 teams (in the AL) or 5 teams (in the NL) to make the Playoffs, instead of the 3, 4 or 5 you have to top now; and no Wild Card, meaning that, despite 97 wins -- 5 more than they won in their 1996 title season and 10 more than in their 2000 title season -- the Yankees were out of luck. So were the Mets,

If the current setup were in place then, the Yankees would have won the AL Wild Card; while the Cards would have won the NL Central, enabling the Mets to win the NL East.

In the Playoffs, the Royals came from 3 games to 1 down to beat the Jays, the Cards beat the NL West Champion Dodgers, and the Royals came back from 3 games to 2 down to beat the Cards and win an all-Missouri World Series, thanks to a controversial umpiring decision in Game 6 and a Cardinal mental meltdown in Game 7.

1985. A strange year. And nobody was bowling for soup.

Note to fans of that band: George Michael was still in Wham! and hadn't gone into his "Faith" phase yet. And when wasn't Ozzy Osbourne an actor?)

*

One final note. On September 19, 1986, a little more than a year later, the White Sox beat the Angels 7-1 in Anaheim. The ChiSox' pitcher that day pitched a no-hitter, despite walking 7 batters, and allowing a run in the 6th inning, on 3 straight walks and a sacrifice fly by Reggie. The Sox pitcher? None other than Joe Cowley, the man Tom Seaver outpitched to win Number 300.

In the preceding winter, the Yankees had traded Cowley and Hassey to the White Sox for 2 guys who never reached the majors, and Britt Burns, a solid lefty who was supposed to be the 2nd left in the rotation (along with Ron Guidry) that the Yankees so desperately needed, but had a degenerative condition in his hip, and never pitched in the majors again. That was the kind of trade that George Steinbrenner and "my baseball people" made in the 1980s.

And in a fascinating irony, that same day, although no one knew it for sure at the time, Seaver made his last major league appearance. (Appropriately, his age was 41.) The previous June, the White Sox had traded him to the Boston Red Sox, even-up, for outfielder Steve Lyons. That's right: The man today's kids know as baseball pundit "Psycho."

In his last game, Seaver started for the Red Sox against the Blue Jays at Exhibition Stadium. He only went 4 innings, and lost to the Jays, 6-4. Dave Stieb was the winning pitcher. The last batter he ever faced? Tony Fernandez, who flew out to right.

The first batter he ever faced? It was on April 13, 1967, at Shea Stadium, against the Pittsburgh Pirates, and his 1st batter was the dangerous defending NL batting champion, Matty Alou, who doubled to right. But the 22-year-old Seaver stranded him, and the Mets won, 3-2 on an 8th inning single by Chuck Hiller. The opposing pitcher was 1960 Cy Young Award winner Vernon Law.

Attendance: 5,005. It was the 3rd game of the 1967 season, the Mets were still horrible, and while Seaver had been highly-touted, many a highly-touted rookie has failed to pan out. At the time, who knew? Seaver did, however, pan out, and then some.

Moving back to 1986: The Red Sox did not include him on their roster for either the American League Championship Series or the World Series, so the September 19 loss in Toronto was his last major league appearance. But with his Boston teammates, he was introduced at Shea Stadium before Game 1 of the World Series, and appropriately got a thunderous ovation.

And you know what? After September 19, 1986, Cowley, like Seaver, never won another game. He was traded by the White Sox to the Philadelphia Phillies during spring training in 1987, went 0-4 in 5 starts, got send down in early May, went 3-9 in Triple-A, got released, and before turning 29 had thrown his last professional pitch.

Cowley is forgotten today. Seaver is remembered. So is Carew. And so is Rizzuto, who even had Seaver as a WPIX-Channel 11 broadcast partner in his last few years on the air.

Holy Cow.

"Rizzuto, Seaver and Carew." Sounds like a re-write of Terry Cashman's "Talkin' Baseball (Willie, Mickey and the Duke)."

August 4, 1945: The Bert Shepard Game

August 4, 1945, 80 years ago: Bert Shepard pitches in a game in what would later be called Major League Baseball. This was incredibly unlikely, because he had only one leg.

Bert Robert Shepard was born on June 28, 1920 in Dana, Indiana, hard by the Illinois State Line, and home to a museum dedicated to another native who became a hero of World War II, journalist Ernie Pyle. A lefthanded pitcher, Shepard grew up in nearby Clifton, Indiana, and made his professional debut in the Detroit Tigers' organization in 1939. But by the conclusion of the 1942 season, he hadn't risen above Class C ball (roughly equivalent to "Long A" today).

He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces in World War II, became a pilot, and achieved the rank of 1st Lieutenant. On May 21, 1944, his fighter group was strafing a German airfield northwest of Berlin, when his plane, a Lockheed P-38 Lightning, was hit. He crashed, and was thrown clear, saving his life, as the plane exploded in flames.

He was found by 1st Lieutenant Ladislaus Loidl, an Austrian doctor in the Nazis' air force, the Luftwaffe. Although Shepard's right foot had already been severed, Loidl managed to save his life. Although the Nazis were the enemy, Shepard would always be grateful for the medical services the Germans provided him, even as he recovered in a prisoner-of-war camp.

He was released in a prisoner exchange in February 1945, and he was determined to resume his baseball career. Part of his rehabilitation was spent at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. There, he met Under Secretary of War Robert Patterson, and told him of his desire to keep playing baseball despite needing an prosthesis for his right leg. Patterson told Clark Griffith, owner of the Washington Senators, and himself a Hall of Fame pitcher.

On March 29, Griffith signed Shepard, then only 24 years old, as a pitching coach, thinking it would be good publicity. All season long, with his prosthesis being the leg on which he landed in his pitching motion, he pitched batting practice, and visited veterans' hospitals, offering encouragement to other wounded soldiers. On July 10, he pitched 4 innings against the Brooklyn Dodgers in an exhibition game for the War Relief Fund.

However, the Senators couldn't simply put him in a game just for the publicity. Despite their reputation as legendary losers -- the saying was, "Washington: First in war, first in peace, and last in the American League" -- this was a rare season in which they were in the Pennant race. When dawn arrived on August 4, 1945, the Detroit Tigers led the American League, the Senators were only 3 games behind, the New York Yankees were 4 back, and every other team except the Philadelphia Athletics was within 9 1/2 games. The AL race was still anybody's ballgame, and the Senators had as good a chance at the Pennant as anybody.

But despite World War II winding down -- V-E Day was 3 months earlier, and, while no one yet knew it, V-J Day would come in 10 days -- wartime travel restrictions, designed to save fuel for the war effort, were very much in place, to the point where that season's All-Star Game had been canceled, the only time since the game was founded in 1933 that it happened until the COVID epidemic in 2020. This led to teams staying in place longer than usual.

And, in early August, the Senators had a run of 5 straight days of doubleheaders, with the 4th being the 4th of them. Throw in the war's "manpower drain," and finding "warm bodies" was difficult, especially to flesh out a pitching staff. Shepard's time had come.

The 1st game that day was a 4-0 Senators win over the Boston Red Sox. Wally Holborow did the best thing he could for his team: He went the distance, and allowed just 2 hits. In the 2nd game, the Senators wouldn't be so lucky: Even with such talent as Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr, Dom DiMaggio and Johnny Pesky all in the service, the Sox knocked starting pitcher Sandy Ullrich out of the box in the 4th inning.

Senators manager Ossie Bluege brought in Joe Cleary, who was another player who was only playing due to The War's manpower drain. It was his only big-league appearance as well, and he only got 1 batter out, allowing 7 runs on 5 hits and 3 walks. There are pitchers who allowed baserunners and didn't get anybody out, thus having an earned run average of infinity. Cleary has the highest career ERA of anybody who did actually get someone out: 189.00. The Red Sox scored 12 runs in the top of the 4th, and were up 14-2. Tom McBride tied a major league record for most RBIs in an inning: 6, in the 4th, all off Cleary.

So Bluege brought in Shepard, wearing Number 34. There is a sad connection here: Elmer Gedeon, 1 of the 2 MLB players who ended up being killed in World War II (Harry O'Neill of the 1939 Athletics was the other), had also worn 34 for the Senators, playing 5 games in the outfield in 1939. Shepard being assigned 34 was probably a coincidence.

The 1st batter that Shepard faced was George "Catfish" Metkovich, a center fielder who had a decent 10-season career in the majors. Shepard struck him out. He pitched the rest of the way, going 5 1/3rd innings, allowing 1 run on 3 hits, walking 1 and striking out 2. The Red Sox won, 15-4.

The Senators remained in the race until the final day of the season, and finished 1 game behind the Tigers, who then beat the Chicago Cubs to win the World Series. Bluege never brought Shepard into another game. Who knows, that may have cost the Senators the Pennant. They hadn't won one since 1933, they left town in 1971, and no Washington team would win another major league Pennant until the 2019 Nationals.

In 1946, the veteran players returned home, and, war hero or no, there was no place for Shepard on the major league roster. He pitched in the minors that season, and was released by the Senators afterward. He pitched semi-pro ball in 1947, but needed further surgery on his leg, causing him to miss the 1948 season. In 1949, he was a player-manager in Class B ball, going 5-6.

He became a typewriter salesman, making brief comebacks in 1952 and 1955. Then he got back into aeronautics, becoming a safety engineer for Hughes Aircraft, one of Howard Hughes' companies. He won competitions for amputees in both running and golf, even in his 70s.

In 1993, This Week In Baseball did a piece on him, nearly half a century after the fact, covering his trip back to Europe, following his return to the site of his crash, and to a reunion with Dr. Loidl again, where he thanked him for saving his life, and (if only for 1 game) his baseball career.

Bert Shepard died on June 16, 2008 in Highland, California, outside San Bernardino. He was 87 years old, and was survived by his wife and their 2 daughters. Senators center fielder José Zardón was the last surviving player from his lone big-league appearance, living until 2017. I can find no record of how long Loidl lived, beyond 1993. It is possible that he is still alive as of August 4, 2025.

Happy 100th Birthday, Marv Levy

August 3, 1925, 100 years ago: Marvin Daniel Levy is born in Chicago. In World War II, he was a meteorologist for what was then called the U.S. Army Air Forces. Given that he ended up coaching in Canada, Kansas City, Chicago and Buffalo, that may have helped.

He was the head coach at the University of California and the College of William & Mary, leading W&M to the 1966 Southern Conference (not Southeastern Conference) title, before getting his 1st pro coaching job, in 1969, as an assistant with the Philadelphia Eagles. With George Allen’s Washington Redskins, he reached Super Bowl VII in 1973. He led the Montreal Alouettes to the Championship of Canadian football, the Grey Cup, in 1974 and 1977. In 1978, he became head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs. In 1984, he succeeded Allen as head coach of the USFL’s Chicago Blitz.

In 1986, he became head coach of the Buffalo Bills. He led them to 4 straight AFC Championships – but lost all 4 Super Bowls. He went 45-60-5 as a college head coach, 43-31-4 as a pro head coach in Canada, and 143-112 in America.

He grew up a fan of the Chicago Cardinals, the team now known as the Arizona Cardinals, and hates the Chicago Bears, including their theme song, "Bear Down, Chicago Bears." In 1994, after losing to the Bears and hearing that song, he promised his players that if they won their next game, he would write them a fight song. They beat the Miami Dolphins, and he kept his word.

Marv Levy was named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, and the Bills Wall of Fame. He turns 100 today.