1981 ALDS
The 1981 American League Division Series (ALDS), the opening round of the 1981 American League playoffs, began on Tuesday, October 6, and ended on Sunday, October 11. The Division Series were approved by team owners on August 6 in response to the 1981 Major League Baseball strike, which caused the cancellation of roughly one-third of the regular season between June 12 and August 9; by the time play was resumed, it was decided that the best approach was to have the first-half leaders automatically qualify for postseason play, and allow all the teams to begin the second half with a clean slate. Overview The first half and second-half champions in both the American League East and American League West divisions would meet in best-of-five series, with the winners advancing to the AL Championship Series (ALCS). If the same team won both halves, a wild card team—the second-place team, based on overall record, in the division—would qualify for the postseason, but this proved unnece ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1981 Oakland Athletics Season
The Oakland Athletics' 1981 season saw the A's finish with an overall record of 64 wins and 45 losses. They finished the season with the best record in the American League (and second best in all of baseball). Due to the infamous 1981 players strike, the league resorted to a split-season format; this new format saw the winners of both halves of the season playing in the first divisional playoff in MLB history. The A's qualified by posting the AL West's best record in the first half of the season. While they swept the Kansas City Royals in the AL West playoff, they were themselves swept by the New York Yankees in the 1981 American League Championship Series. The Athletics' 1981 season ranks among the organization's most interesting. The A's, only two years removed from a disastrous 54-108 finish, won their first AL West crown since 1975 under second-year manager Billy Martin. The "Billyball" A's began the season with a then-AL record 11 consecutive wins (this record was lat ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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George Maloney
George Patrick Maloney (February 28, 1928 – July 29, 2003) was a professional baseball umpire who worked in the American League from 1969 to 1983, wearing uniform number 28 when the American League adopted them for umpires in 1980. Maloney umpired 2,159 major league games in his 15-year career. He umpired in one World Series (1975), three All-Star Games (1974, 1979 and 1983, becoming the last AL umpire to wear the outside balloon protector favored by AL umpires in All-Star competition), three American League Championship Series (1973, 1976 and 1980), and the 1981 American League Division Series. Later life After retirement, Maloney served as commissioner of the South Florida College Baseball Umpires Association from 1986 to 1993. He then worked for the Umpire Development Program and its successor, the Professional Baseball Umpires Corporation (PBUC), from 1996 until his death. In that role, he evaluated and trained minor league umpires. Death Maloney died in Barstow, Califo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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WABC (AM)
WABC (770 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to New York, New York, carrying a conservative talk format known as "Talkradio 77". Owned by John Catsimatidis' Red Apple Media, the station's studios are located in Red Apple Media headquarters on Third Avenue in Midtown Manhattan and its transmitter is in Lodi, New Jersey. Its 50,000-watt non-directional clear channel signal can be heard at night throughout much of the Eastern United States and Canada. It is the primary entry point for the Emergency Alert System in the New York metropolitan area and New Jersey. WABC simulcasts on WLIR-FM in Hampton Bays, New York, on eastern Long Island. Owned and operated by the American Broadcasting Company for much of its history, it is one of the country's oldest radio stations. WABC began broadcasting in early October 1921, originally as WJZ in Newark, New Jersey. From 1943 through 2007, the station served as the flagship for the original ABC Radio Network (and its direct predeces ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Howard Cosell
Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also probably in some cases a confusion with the Old Norse cognate ''Haward'' (''Hávarðr''), which means "high guard" and as a surname also with the unrelated Hayward. In some rare cases it is from the Old English ''eowu hierde'' "ewe herd". In Anglo-Norman the French digram ''-ou-'' was often rendered as ''-ow-'' such as ''tour'' → ''tower'', ''flour'' (western variant form of ''fleur'') → ''flower'', etc. (with svarabakhti). A diminutive is "Howie" and its shortened form is "Ward" (most common in the 19th century). Between 1900 and 1960, Howard ranked in the U.S. Top 200; between 1960 and 1990, it ranked in the U.S. Top 400; between 1990 and 2004, it ranked in the U.S. Top 600. People with the given name Howard or its variants include: Given ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Don Drysdale
Donald Scott Drysdale (July 23, 1936 – July 3, 1993) was an American professional baseball player and television sports commentator. A right-handed pitcher for the Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers for his entire career in Major League Baseball, Drysdale was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1984. Drysdale won the Cy Young Award and in pitched a record six consecutive shutouts and consecutive scoreless innings. One of the most dominant pitchers of the late 1950s to mid 1960s, Drysdale stood tall and was not afraid to throw pitches near batters to keep them off balance. After his playing career, he became a radio/television broadcaster. Early life Drysdale was born in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, and attended Van Nuys High School, where one of his classmates was actor Robert Redford. Playing career Pitching for the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers, he teamed with Sandy Koufax during the late 1950s to middle 1960s to form one of the most dominating pitching duos in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Keith Jackson
Keith Max Jackson (October 18, 1928 – January 12, 2018) was an American sports commentator, journalist, author, and radio personality, known for his career with ABC Sports (1966–2006). While he covered a variety of sports over his career, he is best known for his coverage of college football from 1952 until 2006, and his distinctive voice, "a throwback voice, deep and operatic. A voice that was to college football what Edward R. Murrow's was to war. It was the voice of ultimate authority in his profession." Biography Early life A farmer's son, Jackson was born in Roopville, Georgia and grew up on a farm outside Carrollton, near the Alabama state line. He was the only surviving child in a poor family and grew up listening to sports on the radio. After enlisting and serving as a mechanic in the United States Marine Corps, he attended Washington State University in Pullman under the G.I. Bill. Jackson began as a political science major, but he became interested in b ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Buck Rodgers
Robert Leroy "Buck" Rodgers (born August 16, 1938) is a former catcher, manager and coach in Major League Baseball. He managed three major league teams: the Milwaukee Brewers (1980–1982), Montreal Expos (1985–1991) and California Angels (1991–1994), compiling a career won-lost mark of 784–773 (.504). Playing career Born in Delaware, Ohio, Rodgers graduated from Prospect High School in 1956 and was a star basketball player as well scoring over 1,700 points in his career and averaging 25 points per game over his Junior and Senior seasons with a high of 55 in 1956. He attended Ohio Wesleyan University and Ohio Northern University. He signed his first professional contract with the Detroit Tigers in 1956, spent five years in their farm system, and was selected by the Angels in the 1960 MLB Expansion Draft. He was a top defensive catcher and a switch-hitter who played nine major league seasons (1961–1969), all with the Angels, compiling a .232 batting average with 704 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1981 Milwaukee Brewers Season
The 1981 Milwaukee Brewers season was the franchise's 13th overall season and 12th season based in Milwaukee. The Brewers finished first in American League East during the second half of the split season (caused by the 1981 Major League Baseball strike) and compiled an overall record of 62 wins and 47 losses. The team advanced to the postseason for the first time in franchise history due to their second-half first-place finish, but lost to the New York Yankees in the American League Division Series. Rollie Fingers became the first relief pitcher in the history of the American League to win the MVP Award. Offseason * December 12, 1980: Sixto Lezcano, David Green, Lary Sorensen and Dave LaPoint were traded by the Brewers to the St. Louis Cardinals for Ted Simmons, Rollie Fingers and Pete Vuckovich. * January 13, 1981: Ernest Riles was drafted by the Brewers in the 3rd round of the 1981 Major League Baseball draft (Secondary phase). * February 21, 1981: Paul Hartzell was signed ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bob Lemon
Robert Granville Lemon (September 22, 1920 – January 11, 2000) was an American right-handed pitcher and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). Lemon was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1976. Lemon was raised in California where he played high school baseball and was the state player of the year in 1938. At the age of 17, Lemon began his professional baseball career in the Cleveland Indians organization, with whom he played for his entire professional career. Lemon was called up to Cleveland's major league team as a utility player in 1941. He then joined the United States Navy during World War II and returned to the Indians in 1946. That season was the first Lemon would play at the pitcher position. The Indians played in the 1948 World Series and were helped by Lemon's two pitching wins as they won the club's first championship since 1920. In the early 1950s, Cleveland had a starting pitching rotation which included Lemon, Bob Feller, Mike Garcia and E ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1981 New York Yankees Season
Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensive, gaining control of most of Morazán and Chalatenango departments. * January 15 – Pope John Paul II receives a delegation led by Polish Solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa at the Vatican. * January 20 – Iran releases the 52 Americans held for 444 days, minutes after Ronald Reagan is sworn in as the 40th President of the United States, ending the Iran hostage crisis. * January 21 – The first DeLorean automobile, a stainless steel sports car with gull-wing doors, rolls off the production line in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland. * January 24 – An earthquake of magnitude in Sichuan, China, kills 150 people. Japan suffers a less serious earthquake on the same day. * January 25 – In South Africa the largest part of the town Laingsbur ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jim McKean
James Gilbert McKean (May 26, 1945 – January 24, 2019) was a Canadian umpire in Major League Baseball (MLB) who worked in the American League (AL) from 1974 to 1999, and in both major leagues in 2000 and 2001. He umpired in the World Series in 1979, 1985 and 1995. He also officiated in five American League Championship Series (1977, 1983, 1987, 1991, 1998) and three All-Star games (1980, 1982, 1993), calling balls and strikes for the last game, as well as the 1981, 1995 and 1999 American League Division Series. He wore uniform number 8 after the AL adopted uniform numbers in 1980. After his retirement from active umpiring, McKean entered television as an umpiring consultant for ESPN. Early career After a high school football career as a star quarterback, McKean received athletic scholarship offers to 35 U.S. schools. Instead, he played junior football with the NDG Maple Leafs and then professionally with the Montreal Alouettes and the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jim Evans (umpire)
James Bremond Evans (born November 5, 1946) is a former umpire in Major League Baseball (MLB) who worked in the American League (AL) from 1971 to 1999, and ran a professional umpiring school from 1990 through 2012. Career Evans began umpiring Little League games at age 14, where his playing experience as a catcher helped in judging balls and strikes. He attended Kilgore College on scholarship before attending the University of Texas at Austin (UT). He umpired high school and college baseball while attending college. He left UT temporarily in his senior year when he was offered a job in the Florida State League, making him the last umpire hired in professional baseball who had not attended an umpire school. Following his first season in pro baseball (1968), Evans returned to UT in the fall and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in education in January 1969. A month after graduating from UT, Evans attended the newly formed MLB Umpire Development Program in February and March 1969 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |