On May 12th, 1970 Ernie slugged the 500th home run of his career during an 11 inning 4-3 Cubs victory at Wrigley. Can any of you Dudes tell us the Atlanta Pitcher & future corrupt Georgia Sheriff who served up that fateful blast?
October 2nd, 1983 - Jim Plunkett connects with Speedy Wide Receiver Cliff Branch for a 99 yard touchdown, during a 37-35 loss to the Washington Redskins. It was Cliff’s only catch of the game. The Raiders would get their revenge though in Super Bowl XVIII following the season, where they ran all over Washington in a 38-9 rout. Cliff had 94 yards on 6 catches, including a TD in the big game.
Head on over to the Blaze Files at amazingblazezine.com and link up with a Toasty Video Array of Cliff Branch catching long Bombs!!
Wanna know how fast Cliff was, he was 35 years old when he caught that pass from Plunkett at the 35 and took it the rest of the way for one of only thirteen 99 Yard Touchdown Pass Plays in NFL History. R.I.P. Cliff.
Happy B-Day to George 'Buster' Rhymes! The Miami Northwestern Grad , Sooner Standout & inspiration behind Busta Rhymes Nickname. Buster had the best game of his short career in just the 3rd game he played. In a 1985 Monday Night Matchup in the Metrodome against NFC North Foe Chicago, Buster returned 6 Bear kickoffs for 182 yards, and hauled in 3 passes for 89 yards. His 1,345 kick return yards his rookie year set a Vikings single season record that wouldn’t be topped until 2013.
Who can name the Viking Rookie Return man who topped George’s record setting season? For a Bonus point. Who held the Vikings record before Buster with 1, 184 return yards? Hint: His brother was playing for the Bears that Monday night.
⚾Defunct Statistical category⚾ --The Game Winning RBI. Only existed from 1980-1988. Given to the player who drove in the run that put a team into the lead for good. No matter if it was a bloop single in the 3rd that drove in the 1st run of a 5-0 win or a bottom of the 9th walk off HR. (17) Keith Hernandez is the all time leader with 129 of these, including a record 24 in 1985.
Keith actually picked up a game winning RBI on June 14th, 1987. Be sure to check out #amazingblazezinenumber 5 for the rest of the story.
Today I took a little dive into my original 1990 Scholastic Book Fair Score ‘The Complete Super Bowl Story’ (Games I - XXIV) On this day in 1986, we saw the Chicago Bears dominate the New England Patriots 46-10 in Super Bowl XX. Bears Defensive End Richard Dent would be named Super Bowl MVP for his 1.5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, and blocked pass. Richard led the league in sacks that year with 17.
Can anybody name the player on the other sideline that day in the Superdome who came in 2nd in Sacks with 16.5?
Did you know Vernon Maxwell is one of just 9 NBA players to score 30 or more points in a single quarter? ‘Mad Max’ exploded for 30 of his 51 points in the 4th quarter during a Houston Rockets 103-97 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers back in January of 1991. I never knew this but, Vernon is the all-time leading scorer in Florida Gators History, and led the 1987 squad to their 1st ever NCAA Tournament. Happy Belated B-DAY!
Can anybody out there name this pair of All-Star Baseball Bros. who were the first siblings to face off against one another in the Mid-Summer Classic? Find your answer in Blaze # 12
⚡Flashback January 25, 1986⚡
(10) Manute Bol blocks 15 shots in a 111-103 Washington Bullets victory over the Atlanta Hawks. Tied for 2nd most blocks in a game ever. (Elmore Smith had 17 in 1973) Manute's 15 blocks that day is also the Rookie single game record🏀⚡🏀⚡🏀
Seattle Supersonic Shooting Guard Dale Ellis set the record for most minutes ever played in a single NBA Game when he clocked in for 69 of the possible 73 minutes played between Seattle & Milwaukee back on November 9th, 1989. As the Berlin Wall was falling across the pond, Dale was knocking down shots left & right, scoring 53 points during the five overtime marathon in Milwaukee. He & the Sonics would come up just short though, 155-154.
Days don’t get much nicer than January 23rd, 1983 was for Miami Dolphins Linebacker A.J. Duhe in the appropriately named ‘Mud Bowl’ that was the AFC Championship Game. The Dolphins Linebacker intercepted New York Jets Quarterback Richard Todd # 3 times during the 14-0 Phins Victory on that soggy day in South Florida.
Man, I miss a good backyard Pigskin Pick-up game in the Mud on a rainy weekend.
Have a killer weekend Everybody!
Flashback - March 29, 1990- Hakeem Olajuwon records the 3rd quadruple double in NBA history during a Houston Rockets 120-94 win over the Milwaukee Bucks. Hakeem The Dream’s stat line that night went like this: 18 points, 16 rebounds, 11 blocks, and 10 assists.
The favorite card that I have from my childhood collecting days is a 1986-87 Fleer (#82) Hakeem (Akeem) Olajuwon rookie card. I have such a rad memory of getting it too. I was at the local sports card shop back in the early 90’s when I noticed they had constructed this haphazard pyramid of card boxes with random #’s taped on them. Apparently, there were all these various valuable cards distributed throughout the grab boxes. I gambled my allowance on box #10. Halfway through I pulled out Akeem, and remember being so stoked. The old guy behind the counter even pulled out a screw down card case for me to put it in.
It’s current location is unknown. Last seen in my Mom’s garage.
On This Day - Way back in 1970 this pair of brothers became the 1st siblings to face off against one another in a NBA All-Star Game. Can any of you old timers name them? They would face off against one another the next season as well.
In 2015, another pair of brothers became the 1st to both start an All-Star Game. Who were they?
Remember back in the 1990 NFC Championship when it was the foot of Matt Bahr that propelled the Giants to Super Bowl XXV? There would be no chance for a San Francisco 49ers 3-peat, as Bahr made 5 of 6 field goals, and the Giants controlled the game on the ground for a 15-13 victory. I’ll mostly remember this game for the countless replays over the years of Joe Montana almost getting his arm taken off by Leonard Marshall.
On This Day in 1993 Iowa Hawkeyes Star Forward Chris Street was tragically killed in an automobile accident. His # 40 was retired by the school the next month. No other Hawkeye Jersey # has been retired since. He was just 20 years old. R.I.P. Street
Throwback to January 31st, 1991. (14) Michael Adams becomes the shortest player to ever record a triple-double. The 5'10 point guard puts up a career high 45 points, grabs 11 boards and dishes out 12 assists in a Nuggets win over the New Jersy Nets.
5'9 Isiah Thomas of the Sacramento Kings broke the record in 2014 when he had a triple double performance against the Washington Wizards.
On January 18th, 1998 The Boston Celtics raised the # 00 to the rafters of the Boston Garden, in honor of Center Robert Parish. Chief owns the distinction of having played the most games in NBA History with 1, 611. Did you know there is only one other team that has retired the # 00 Jersey. Can you name the team & player. Free Blaze up for grabs. Let’s have a killer week dudes!!
