ABOVE Lee surrenders to Grant at Appomattox Court House, April 9th, 1865, The Soldier’s and Sailor’s Monument in Washington Square Park [Photo: David Kramer]; BELOW From Sports and the ’60s’ at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Highland Park
April 9th, 2020. The New York Times
Maybe I shouldn’t say this but I don’t much miss professional and amateur sports. I do listen to Syracuse basketball on the radio. With the cancellation of the National Invitational Tournament, we missed the chance to see the Orange play in Rochester. As the Carrier Dome is undergoing repairs, Syracuse needed an alternative site for a “home” NIT game. The Blue Cross Arena was considered a strong possibility.
I’ve been to one NCCA postseason game — the immemorial 1989 Georgetown-Princeton #1 vs. #16 match up at the Providence Civic Center — and would have trekked downtown for the first ever postseason tournament game in Rochester history. SEE RECENT SPORTS STORIES AT END
I don’t follow the NHL except on the rare occasions when the Buffalo Sabres are good. I only watch the NBA when it’s Lebron vs. the Warriors in the Finals. Golf, auto racing, tennis, rugby and soccer, not so much. I really don’t tune into baseball until May. I like RCAC baseball at Cobb’s Hill, but not in early-to-mid April when it’s cold.
Perversely, the only league I was watching was the XFL. I have a sado-masochistic relationship with the XFL. As seen in Waiting for the XFL to be the Ex-XFL, I rail against the XFL, but kept watching. Go figure.
At Jeremiah’s Tavern on Monroe Avenue, Bob Page. From Waiting for the XFL to be the Ex-XFL
Like most sports fans, I semi-compulsively scan the box scores in the papers (print editions of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle and The New York Times). There are no current box scores, but for me — and I may not be alone — this void is filled by THIS DATE IN SPORTS.
April 9th, 2020. The New York Times
Not only do the events trigger memory waves, but they can send you right to Talker. For example, as seen above and in Sports and the ’60s’ at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Highland Park, 58 years ago today Arnold Palmer won the Masters.
As seen in Why I don’t care that much about the Houston Ass – terisks*, 55 years ago today Mickey Mantle hit the first home run in the Astrodome.
April 9th, 2020. The New York Times
107 years ago today, Ebbets Field opened in Brooklyn.
April 9th, 2020. The New York Times
As seen in Now gone from living memory, the last time the Dodgers (Robins) and Red Sox battled, three years later Ebbets Field hosted three World Series games.
Game 3 at Ebbets Field, Tues, Oct 11, 1916, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle From Now gone from living memory, the last time the Dodgers (Robins) and Red Sox battled
39 years ago today, Fernando Valenzuela pitched a five hit shut out against the Houston Astros, opening the tumultuous 1981 season that saw a strike to be adjudicated in Rochester.
April 9th, 2020. The New York Times
April 22nd, 2020. The New York Times
April 27th, 2020. The New York Times
©1986 Topps Chewing Gum, Inc. [David Kramer’s collection] From The 1981 baseball strike comes to Rochester. When Dave Winfield made 1.3 million a year!
Also on this date, 155 years ago today, Lee surrenders to Grant at Appomattox
from the Timeline at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial of Greater Rochester in Highland Park [Photo: David Kramer, 4/10/20]
(left) Lee surrenders to Grant at Appomattox Court House, April 9th, 1865. From the Soldier’s and Sailor’s Monument in Washington Square Park; (right) statue of Abraham Lincoln atop the monument [Photos: David Kramer, 4/2/20] From Remembering April 4th, 1968 and the Civil Rights Movement at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Highland Park
Sports and the ’60’s at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Highland Park
No sports? Talker has you covered. (Part III, Sports Less Traveled)
No sports? Talker has you covered (Part II, the Bills, the Jills and love triangles)
No sports? Talker has you covered (Part I, Major and Minor League baseball)
