We have been reminded by virtually every media source that Saturday, July 20, 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing.
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed the Eagle on the lunar surface at 4:17 p.m. EDT while Michael Collins orbited in the command module, Columbia.
America and much of the world watched in awe as Armstrong, a little over six hours later, took “one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”
If you are old enough to remember that day, you likely know what you were doing and where.
I had graduated from Bucyrus High School just over a month before that and was vacationing with my family in Chicago. I was in a hotel in downtown Chicago when I witnessed the Eagle landing on the moon.
While that event certainly took center stage on the world, the earth did not stop spinning on its axis. Other things were going on, including sports. I offer this brief synopsis of what was happening primarily in major league baseball.
The 1969 season proved to be a disappointing one for the Cleveland Indians. In 1968, the Tribe had one of the best pitching staffs in baseball, with starters Sonny Siebert, Sam McDowell, Luis Tiant, Stan Williams and Steve Hargan and closer Vicente Romo.
But with a severe lack of offense, the best the Indians could muster that year was third place in the 10-team American League. In today’s divisional format, they would have been a playoff team hands down.
To try to rectify the lack of offense, the front offense began trading some of the pitching and 1969 turned into a disaster.
But on that historic day in July, the Indians held their own, splitting a doubleheader with the Detroit Tigers at old Municipal Stadium in Cleveland.
Detroit won the opener, 3-2, with the decisive blow coming on a solo home run in the eighth by Willie Horton off Stan Williams. The Tigers had tied the game at 2-2 in the seventh. The Tribe missed a chance to beat Detroit ace Mickey Lolich, leading 2-0 after six and Lolich left the game.
Tom Tresh, Al Kaline and Don Wert each had three hits for the Tigers but none of them scored and only Tresh drove in a run.
Jose Cardenal, Larry Brown and Eddie Leon each had two hits for the Indians with Brown and Leon driving in Cleveland’s runs.
Undeterred, the Indians rallied to win the nightcap, 5-4, in 10 innings. Horton hit his second homer of the day in the first inning to help stake the Tigers to an early 3-0 lead.
But Tony Horton and Richie Scheinblum each had taters for Cleveland as the Indians came back to tie it in the sixth and again in the seventh before winning it in the 10th. There were 13,512 in attendance.
Speaking of doubleheaders, that Detroit at Cleveland was one of five through the majors that day. Two for the price of one was common in baseball at that time, even on that July 20.
Though the games went on as usual, the goings on in space were on the consciousness nonetheless. The Chicago Cubs and the Philadelphia Phillies paused to line up on the baselines for a moment of silent prayer for the astronauts’ safety.
The New York Mets and Montreal Expos took some extra time between games of their doubleheader to listen to a broadcast account of the landing. Others had similar gestures acknowledging the amazing accomplishment.
July 20, 1969 is one of the most important dates in human history, but baseball — and sports in general — went on pretty much as usual. Roughly 200,000 baseball fans were on hand at 10 different venues while men walked on the moon for the first time.