MLB cancels playoffs, World Series

With players on strike since mid-August, Major League Baseball on September 14, 1995, cancels its playoffs and World Series. This marks the first time since 1904 that a season will end without the crowning a champion. It also prematurely ends one of the sport’s most exciting seasons in recent memory.

There were numerous reasons for the 1994 MLB strike, which lasted until April 2, 1995, but the overwhelming themes were money and mistrust. MLB owners wanted a cap on players’ salaries and the implementation of local broadcast revenue sharing. The MLB Players Association refused.

The strike ended what should have been an exciting last few months of the season. The Montreal Expos (74-40) and New York Yankees (70-43) appeared to be on a collision course for the World Series. San Francisco Giants slugger Matt Williams’ (43 home runs) and Seattle Mariners star Ken Griffey Jr. (40 HRs) had chances to break Roger Maris’ then-season record for home runs (61, set in 1961). San Diego Padres star Tony Gwynn, who had a .394 batting average, missed a chance to become the first player since Ted Williams in 1941 to bat .400 or higher. 

READ MORE: The epic battle to beat Babe Ruth’s season HR record

Years afterward, the impact of the 1994 strike and cancelled World Series cut deeply with many former players. In 2014, former Oakland A’s star pitcher Dave Stewart told USA TODAY that he “never felt the same way about baseball again.”

Noted Hall of Fame relief pitcher Rich “Goose” Gossage in an interview with USA Today: “Most of these guys in the big leagues today, they don’t have any freakin’ clue on how they’re being paid all of this money. Not one clue. They have no idea the blood, sweat and tears we went through.”

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Fans toss candy bars onto field, disrupting MLB game

On April 13, 1978, opening day at Yankee Stadium, the New York Yankees give away thousands of Reggie! bars to fans, who naturally toss them onto the field after star outfielder Reggie Jackson homers in his first at-bat. The grounds crew cleans up the goodies, delaying the game for five minutes.

When he played for the Oakland A’s, Jackson—who signed with the Yankees as a free agent in 1976—predicted that somebody would name a candy bar after him. And so the Curtiss Candy Co., also known for developing the Baby Ruth bar, created the Reggie! bar, which featured chocolate, peanuts and a caramel center.

After he hit the three-run homer, Jackson—who was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1993—expected the shower of thousands of candy bars. “I didn’t want to get hit in the head,” he told reporters, “but I knew it was a gesture of appreciation.”

READ MORE: Babe Ruth or Baby Ruth: Who was the candy bar named after?

Louisiana native Ron Guidry, a Cajun, won the game for the Yankees, 4-2. Afterward, New York sportswriter Phil Pepe referred to pitcher, writing: “If it takes five minutes to rid the field of Reggie bars, how long would it take to clean up bowls of creole tossed on the diamond?” 

In 2016, Jackson told Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay the candy company made $11 million in the New York area from the Reggie! bar in 1978. But production ceased in 1981, Jackson’s last year with the Yankees. The Reggie! bar had a brief revival in the 1990s, with Clark Candies as the manufacturer. 

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Last baseball game played at historic Yankee Stadium

On September 21, 2008, the last game at historic Yankee Stadium—”The House That Babe Ruth Built”—is played. In the finale, the New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles, 7-3, as future Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera closes the game with a perfect ninth inning. “The way I feel emotionally right now and just physically so drained, it feels like a huge postseason win for us,” Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte tells the New York Times,

With its unique design, such as a short porch in right field and covered seats in deep center, the stadium opened in 1923. It was the scene of scores of Major League Baseball’s most famous moments, including Ruth’s first home run in the stadium on April 18, 1923, Reggie Jackson’s three home-run game to close out the 1977 World Series and Aaron Boone’s Game 7 walk-off home run in the 2003 American League Championship Series against the Boston Red Sox.

READ MORE: 10 things you may not know about Babe Ruth

In closing the stadium, the Yankees hosted a pre-game ceremony, allowing fans and former Yankee legends to walk the hallowed grounds a final time. Julia Ruth Stevens, Ruth’s daughter, threw out the ceremonial first pitch as the scoreboard flashed “To Be Continued…” and a photo of “The Bambino” winking.

The game was ultimately meaningless in the standings for the underwhelming 2008 Yankees, who would miss the playoffs for the first time in more than a decade. But veteran Yankees noted a playoff-like atmosphere. Even some of the retired Yankees, such as Bernie Williams, described pre-game jitters: “I feel as nervous as I was before a playoff game,” he said.

Yankees captain Derek Jeter instructed the New York faithful to bring the same energy to the “new” Yankee Stadium the next season. “We are relying on you to take the memories from this stadium, add them to the new memories to come at the new Yankee Stadium, and continue to pass them on from generation to generation,” he said.

In 2009, the Yankees won another World Series—the fifth and final one of Jeter’s historic career.

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Harlem Globetrotters’ 8,829-game winning streak snapped

On September 12, 1995, in Vienna, Austria, the Harlem Globetrotters tip off the third game of an 11-game exhibition series in Europe against a team of retired basketball stars led by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, aptly named “Kareem’s All-Stars.” Unlike the previous 8,829 games, the Globetrotters lose, 91-85—the team’s first loss since 1971. The Globetrotters’ games are usually scripted, but this game is not.  

Despite being 48 years old, Abdul-Jabbar put the team on his back, scoring 34 points. Bo Kimble, a former college standout and New York Knick, scored 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Abdul-Jabbar and Kimble were aided by a handful of other old, former NBA standouts such as Artis Gilmore, Jo-Jo White, Nate “Tiny” Archibald and, the youngest player on the team, 40-year-old Cedric “Cornbread” Maxwell.

The victory had additional significance for Abdul-Jabbar, who was no stranger to the Globetrotters. In 1969, the Globetrotters—known primarily for their on-court antics—reportedly offered him a $1 million contract to play with them after his historic collegiate career at UCLA. Abdul-Jabbar turned the deal down and went onto become the No. 1 pick of the 1969 NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Bucks. 

After the win, Abdul-Jabbar complimented the Globetrotters, saying they were “a very good basketball team” and that “they impressed our team with their poise in this loss.”

Meanwhile, the Globetrotters, who had won the first two games of the 11-game series in Switzerland and Germany, took the loss fairly hard. “The guys are really upset …,”  Reggie “Regulator” Phillips told the media. “After being part of the team for over 300 straight wins, it is a strange feeling to lose a game.” The Globetrotters defeated the All-Stars in their next “game.”

READ MORE: 10 things you may not know about the Harlem Globetrotters

At the end of this somewhat strange series featuring basketball entertainers and NBA has-beens, Maxwell summed up the experience humorously, telling the New York Times: “You look at us after these games, we are on Tylenol, Excedrin, Advil—all kinds of painkillers, anti-inflammatories. We’re one big pharmaceutical shop. If they do this next year, they ought to look at one of those drugs companies sponsoring it. They can call it the Kareem-Harlem Globetrotters Pain Tour.”

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Louganis wins Olympic gold the day after suffering head injury

At the Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea on September 20, 1988, American diver Greg Louganis wins the gold medal on the springboard despite nearly knocking himself unconscious during a qualifying round dive. With the improbable victory, Louganis—who won gold medals in the 3-meter springboard and 10-meter platform at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles—becomes the first man to win back-to-back gold medals in both events, solidifying his claim as the greatest diver ever.

In a qualifying round the previous day, Louganis suffered a serious head injury while attempting a reverse two-and-a-half somersault dive. Bloodied and dazed, he received five stitches from a doctor before returning to the board and finishing third.

READ MORE: How Greg Louganis’ Olympic Diving Accident Forced a Conversation About AIDS

“I knew as soon as I was coming off the board that I was going to be close because I could feel it in my own body,” he told ABC’s Barbara Walters in 1995. “What I was concerned about was hitting my hands … I started coming out of the dive and I heard this big hollow thud … and then I find myself in the water. I just held my head … I just wanted to hold the blood in.”

Louganis, who publicly disclosed that he was gay at the Gay Games in 1994, told Walters in 1995 that he and his coach, Ron O’Brien, knew that he was HIV-positive before the 1988 Olympics. But they didn’t tell the public or the Olympic Committee, sparking a controversy. Louganis was criticized for potentially putting at risk the doctor who treated him following his head injury in the qualifying round.

Louganis advocated for the LGBTQ movement following his retirement in 1988.

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Eight MLB players indicted in “Black Sox Scandal”

On September 28, 1920, a Chicago grand jury indicts eight members of the Chicago White Sox on charges of fixing the 1919 World Series. White Sox owner Charles Comiskey immediately suspends Chick Gandil, Buck Weaver, Happy Felsch, Swede Risberg, Fred McMullin, Eddie Cicotte, Lefty Williams and “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, who are notorious for their involvement in the “Black Sox Scandal.”

At the time of the grand jury indictment, Chicago was finishing up a 96-win season. The White Sox eventually lost a heated pennant race to the Cleveland Indians, who went on to win the World Series.

None of the eight players, who were all brought to trial, played for the first four months of the 1921 season. All were acquitted on August 2 that year. But there would be no long-term celebration for any of them. A day after their acquittal, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the Major League Baseball commissioner, suspended all eight from organized baseball for life. 

Evidence pointed to the players’ guilt, and many have debated the involvement of  Jackson, one of the greatest players in MLB history. 

But there’s no doubt the banishment of the eight White Sox’s players left a black mark on baseball. In an open letter to Comiskey, published in an Oklahoma newspaper, a fan wrote: 

“Don’t let those suspended ballplayers return to the White Sox fold, tho [sic] a jury declared them free and a judge deemed justice accomplished. The Black Sox can never be washed white.”

READ MORE: Did “Shoeless” Joe Jackson Conspire to Fix the World Series?

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Canadian woman breaks pro sports barrier

On September 23, 1992, Manon Rheaume becomes the first woman to play in one of the four major men’s North American pro sports leagues when she takes the ice for the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning in a preseason game. The 20-year-old goalie faces nine shots and allows two goals in St. Louis’ 6-4 victory. “I was very nervous,” she tells the Tampa Bay Tribune.

Born in Quebec on Feb. 23, 1972, Rheaume made history in 1984 when she became the first female to play for a boys team in a Canadian Pee-Wee tournament. Seven years later, she made history again when she became the first woman to play in a men’s junior hockey game in Canada.

Tampa Bay was an expansion team in 1992, and Rheaume’s presence in training camp was a public relations bonanza for the team. “I know part of the reason I am here is for publicity,” Rheaume told the Tribune. “But it’s still a chance to play. That’s what I care about.”

Tampa Bay general manager Tony Esposito saw potential in Rheaume. “We’ll give her a serious look,” he told the Tribune. “This isn’t a joke.” Rheaume, however, did not make the team, and she never played in a regular-season NHL game. 

In December 1992, Rheaume became the first woman to appear in a regular-season professional hockey game when she played for the Atlanta Knights of the International Hockey League. Rheaume also starred for the Canadian women’s national team. 

Rheaume initially retired in 1997 but made a brief comeback for the 2008-09 season.

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World Series broadcast on TV for first time

On September 30, 1947, the New York Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers, 5-3, in Game 1 of the World Series—the first Fall Classic game broadcast on television. It is the second “Subway Series” between and Yankees and Dodgers and first World Series to involve a black player. Jackie Robinson of the Dodgers broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier six months earlier. 

While Red Barber and Mel Allen called the game on the radio, Bob Stanton described the action on NBC. 

In 1939, the first regular-season Major League Baseball game was broadcast on TV, and by 1947, television was still a luxury. Fewer than 50,000 TVs were used in the United States, mostly in bars, restaurants and private clubs in major cities on the East Coast, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported in 2012.

By contrast, millions of fans followed games on the radio. More than 73,000 fans attended Game 1 in Yankee Stadium. 

The first broadcast was flawed, as sunlight and shadows obscured the view of NBC cameras, and the network’s new and cumbersome equipment broke down.

The Dodgers lost the 1947 World Series to the Yankees in seven games. 

The first World Series to be broadcast in color came in 1955, when the Dodgers and Yankees met again. The Dodgers defeated the Yankees that season for their only championship while they were based in Brooklyn. 

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Teen tennis star Navratilova seeks political asylum in U.S.

On September 6, 1975, 18-year-old rising tennis star Martina Navratilova—who would  become one of the greatest players of all time—asks for political asylum in the United States after defecting from communist Czechoslovakia.

Navratilova flourished on the court between May and September 1975, finishing runner-up in the Australian and French Open. At the U.S. Open, Navratilova reached the semifinals before falling to Chris Evert, who would become her chief rival. Then she announced plans to defect.

“Pandemonium reigned around her as cameras clicked and reporters shouted questions,” Steve Tignor of Tennis.com wrote in 2015. “But the teenager remained as calm and self-assured as could be expected, considering what she had just done.”

Like many of her countrymen, Navratilova chafed under communist rule. “She’s from a Communist country,” an Immigration and Naturalization Service spokesman told the New York Times in 1975. “If she wants to stay here, she’ll be permitted to stay.”

Later, Navratilova said she “had no idea what a splash” her defection would cause.

“I’ll never get it off my back,” she told the New York Times. “It’ll always be there. Always. I think 20 years from now they’ll still ask, ‘Why did you do it?”’

Navratilova, who was stripped of her Czechoslovakian citizenship, became a U.S. citizen in 1981. Her Czech citizenship was later restored. Navratilova—one of the first openly gay athletes—was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2000.

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