Munich 1972 and the Israeli Olympic team members

Let’s take a break from current events and remember how the unexpected will always make its way on the front pages.

On Labor Day 1972, President Nixon looked like a man headed for re-election.  At the same time, I am not sure that people were predicting a 49-state sweep or winning the popular vote by 22 points.

Then something happened at the Olympics, and the world watched those horrific scenes from the Olympics in Munich: 9 Israeli hostages, 5 terrorists, and one German policeman were killed.

How much did this incident impact the 1972 election?  It’s hard to say, but it put experience and foreign policy in the minds of voters.  It was similar to that Beslan school shooting in 2004 in another presidential election.

Munich reminded us that terrorists knew no limits — not even young athletes in the Olympics.  It was the beginning of massive terror attacks, such as 9-11 here in the U.S.

Most of all, it reminded us that you never know what can happen in the last 60 days before an election.

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Happy Labor Day

Happy Labor Day and enjoy your day.  

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Remembering Buddy Holly! (1936-1959)

The late Buddy Holly was born September 7, 1936 in Lubbock, Texas. He is also buried there.

Buddy, along with Richie Valens ("La Bamba") and The Big Bopper, died in a plane crash in 1959.

Most of us learned of Buddy Holly's life because of Don McClean's "American Pie", a song that told the story of the day that Buddy Holly was killed.

He was only 22, a big recording star with huge hits: "That'll be the day", "Oh Boy", "True love ways", "Maybe baby" and "Heartbeat".

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Manufacturing and jobs report.

 

Manufacturing and jobs report.  Toronto and the US National Anthem.  Memories of Labor Day 1998.

CANTO TALK podcasts from last week

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Click to listen:

A nice Labor Day jobs report

A nice Labor Day jobs report :

We have something to cheer about with this complex economy.

Click to read:

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/09/a-nice-labor-day-jobs-report/

Labor Day weekend 1998: Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and home runs!

Sammy Sosa's big smile and Mark McGwire's powerful swing were a wonderful distraction from the real world in the summer of '98.   

It was so much fun keeping track of home runs and the countdown to pass Roger Maris's 61 from 1961 and Babe Ruth's legendary 60 from 1927.

We grew up in a baseball world where 50 was a super season.  

The great Harmon Killebrew hit 49 in one season.  

The amazing Hank Aaron hit 47.  

Triple crown winner Mickey Mantle did hit 56 and 54 in the 1950's. 

The Phillies' Mike Schmitdt topped at 48.  

The great Willie Mays hit 52 twice in his career.

The A's Reggie Jackson hit 47 in '69 and led the AL with 32 in '73 and 36 in '75. 

In the 1970s, there were only a few guys who hit 40!

In other words, 50 home runs was a huge number.    

It was so rare that only Willie Mays (52 in '65), George Foster (52 in '77) and Cecil Fielder (50 in '90) did it over a 25 year span!    

In other words, only 3 players hit 50 home runs from 1965 to 1990!

Beyond that, two guys hitting 60 home runs in the same season was beyond my imagination.

This is what made the summer of 1998 so exciting.     

In 1998, McGuire hit # 62 and hugged the Maris family in a national telecast following Labor Day. 

Sosa followed him daily. It went on for the whole month of September. It was wonderful. 

On the last day of the season, McGuire hit the unthinkable # 69 and # 70. 

It was incredible to watch McGuire and Sosa connect with the fans and bring baseball back from the unpleasant strike of '94.

We needed all of those home runs because the 1998 was a horrible except for baseball.

On the local scene, we had one of the warmest summers ever.  We had daily 100 plus temperatures for 29 days.  At one point, we reached 108.  Even the old timers could not remember such a hot summer.

On the national scene, it was the summer of Monica Lewinski and Bill Clinton.  By Labor Day, most of us were hearing about about "oral sex" and White House interns.  I did not appreciate that.   President Clinton's incredibly reckless behavior led to his impeachment in December!

On the global scene, two US embassies were blown up in Africa.  Osama Bin Laden said that it was another battle in the war against the US.

So much for the theory that the terrorists got violent because the US invaded Iraq!

Over at the UN, Saddam Hussein kicked out the inspectors.  Pres. Clinton went to the UN Security Council and demanded a reaction.  VP Gore called Iraq a "virulent threat".  

Nothing happened and Saddam got away with giving the world the finger again.

By the end of '98, Saddam was hitting 12 for 12 (perfect 1.000 batting average) in his defiance and rejection of UN resolutions!

So much for the theory that the UN was ever serious about the matter!

Over in Iraq, Saddam was shooting at US planes enforcing UN resolutions. 

So much for the theory that Saddam never attacked the US.

Most of us were very happy that Sosa and McGwire were hitting titanic homeruns. It was a pleasant distraction form the rest of the news.

Sadly, we learned later that Sosa and McGwire were allegedly involved in the steroids controversy and ended up answering questions from a congressional committee.    What a shame.  It was a great baseball summer.

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September 6, 1981: Fernando Valenzuela pitched 7th shutout in rookie season

On this day in 1981, Fernando Valenzuela pitched his 7th shutout of the season.   

It was an amazing rookie season for young Valenzuela:   13-7, 2.48 ERA, 11 complete games and 8 shutouts.    It earned him NL Rookie of the Year and Cy Young.

We remind you that 1981 was the “strike year" and teams lost about 50 games to the labor stoppage.   He would probably won 20 in a regular season, as he did a couple of times in his career.

Then he beat Houston in the first round, clinched the NL pennant against Montreal and won game 3 against New York in the 1981 post season.

Valenzuela won 173 games and threw a ton of innings for the Dodgers in the 1980's.

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September 6, 1995: Cal Ripken reached 2,131!

Yes, it’s hard to believe that it was so many years ago.   I remember watching the nationally televised game and feeling good for Cal and the game of baseball.    Ripken was a great player and his streak healed some of the wounds from the 1994 strike.    

My first memory of Cal Ripken goes back to ’81.   The rest is history.  He was MVP in ’83 and the O’s won the World Series. He also started the “game streak” that went on until ’98.   He repeated as MVP in ’91.

Unfortunately, Ripken played in bad Oriole teams for most of the streak. Yet, he was out there every day playing and putting some good numbers:   431 HR, 1,695 RBI and 3,184 hits.

Congratulations to a great guy and thanks for the memories.

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September 6, 1996: Eddie Murray hit # 500

On this day in 1996, Eddie Murray became the third player in major league history to have 500 home runs and 3,000 hits.  He did it in the bottom of the 7th at Camden Yards.

Murray was very quiet and did his talking on the field:  .287 average, 504 HR & 1,917 RBI.     He also did it as a switch hitter and played excellent defense at first base.

He was clearly one of the key parts of those Orioles teams who won 2 AL pennants and the 1983 World Series.    In fact, Murray hit 2 HR in game 5 to back Scott McGregor's pitching and win the Series.

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