1973: David Clyde made his pitching debut

On this day in 1973, the Rangers were desperately trying to sell seats.   

They were coming off a 54-100 record in 1972.  Their best player in the opening season in Texas was an aging Frank Howard.    The roster included young guys like future AL MVP Jeff Burroughs and All Star Toby Harrah but they were not exciting anybody in North Texas yet.    

In other words, the '73 Rangers needed a shot in the arm.  Enter David Clyde, a young man from Houston.  

The good news is that David Clyde was a great high school baseball prospect.   The bad news is that he was rushed to the majors years ago.    The Rangers sold many tickets for his debut but not much happened after that!

Clyde never developed into the major league pitcher that everyone predicted.   At the same time, he should have spent a couple of  years in the minors before pitching in the majors.   He wasn’t ready and it probably hurt his career.

He won 7 over a 2-year period.   He was eventually traded to Cleveland.  By the way, I saw him pitch with Cleveland against Baltimore in before he retired.   

Overall, a sad story.

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1973: Remember the day that Secretariat was the world's favorite horse?

On this day in 1973, Secretariat captivated the world's attention by winning the Triple Crown in absolutely spectacular fashion.

I can not think of another event like it.  

Perhaps, the US beating the USSR in hockey in the 1980 Winter Olympics is a close second.

Secretariat was just an amazing horse.  He was clearly the favorite to win the Belmont and Triple Crown but no one expected a race like this.

I was very lucky to watch this race on TV.

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June 1966 and 5 Twins go deep in the same inning

We remember Tony Oliva for winning 3 AL batting titles. 

We remember Zoilo Versalles for the 1965 AL MVP.  

They were 2 of the 4 cubanos who played for the 1965 AL champion Twins.   The other two were Camilo Pascual and Sandy Valdespino.

Back in June 1966, Tony and Zoilo were a part of very unique baseball history.  They both hit home runs along with teammates Rich Rollins, future Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew and Don Mincher.   

Yes, 5 homeruns against the then Kansas City A’s in the same inning!

I should add that Camilo Pascual and Sandy Valdespino were also involved in that historic game.  Pascual started the game but left early.  Valdespino grounded out between Versalles and Oliva’s home runs.

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