Tag Archives: since

The last time the Pirates won 81 games…

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September 9th, 1992. At the end of the day, after a 13-8 victory over the Cubs, the record of the Pittsburgh Pirates showed that they had 81 wins.

It never happened again. Until yesterday.

How long ago was 9-9-92? Well…

  • Bryce Harper hadn’t been born yet.
  • The United States still was doing nuclear bomb testing.
  • The Colorado Rockies, Florida/Miami Marlins, Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays and Arizona Diamondbacks did not exist.
  • Two players from the September 9, 1992 game- Joe Girardi and Ryne Sandberg– are now MLB managers (although Sandberg is an interim manager).
  • Three participants in the game (Sandberg, Andre Dawson, and umpire Doug Harvey) are now in the Hall of Fame. A fourth, Barry Bonds, would be if not for, well… you know.
  • Speaking of Bonds, at the end of the 1992 season, he had 176 HR and in 1992 he hit a then career-high 34 HR.
  • The top movie at the box-office the weekend before was Honeymoon in Vegas. The top movie in the weekend after was Sneakers.
  • Boyz II Men’s “End of the Road” was the Number One single.
  • George H.W. Bush was president and was facing both Bill Clinton and Ross Perot in the presidential race.
  • Nickelodeon was only a few weeks old, the Sci-Fi (Syfy) Channel and Cartoon Network were a few weeks away from premiering.
  • The first Mario Kart game had only been out for about two weeks.
  • Gerald’s Game by Stephen King was the number one best-selling book at the time.
  • The Russian Federation had not yet taken part in the Olympic Games- the 1992 Olympics had the “Unified Team” of Russia and former USSR countries because they hadn’t formed Olympic Committees in time.
  • A Canadian Team had not yet won the World Series.
  • Only Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, Dodger Stadium, Anaheim (Angel) Stadium, Kauffman Stadium, Skydome/Rogers Centre, New Comiskey Park/US Cellular Field, the Oakland Coliseum and Camden Yards remain in MLB use from that season. Tropicana Field had been built, but had not yet hosted a Major League team.

In other words: It was a long time ago.

The last time the Twins won a series in the Bronx…

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The Twins beat the Yankees today, winning their first series in the Bronx since they won this May 10, 2001 game. How long ago was that?

  • It was 4448 days, or 12 years, 2 months and 4 days, ago.
  • Tom Kelly was still the manager of the Twins, who were under threat of contraction at the time.
  • The Twin Towers were still standing, Ted Williams and George Harrison were still alive, Barack Obama was a Illinois State Senator, and the first Apple Stores had not yet opened (they opened later that month).
  • The curses of the Bambino, the Black Sox, Billy Penn and Coogan’s Bluff all were still active.
  • Joe Mauer had not yet been drafted and some thought he’d instead pursue a college football career.
  • Cal Ripken, Mark McGwire and Tony Gwynn were still active MLB players.
  • Heck, Deion Sanders was an active MLB player at the time.
  • The top movie that week was The Mummy Returns.
  • “All For You” by Janet Jackson and “Survivor” by Destiny’s Child were the hit songs at the time.
  • Bryce Harper was eight-and-a-half years old.
  • Star Trek: Voyager was still on the air, 24 had not yet begun to air.
  • There had not yet been a Spider-Man movie released. Nor had there been any Harry Potter movies released.
  • Gas was under $2 a gallon.
  • Of the players in that game, only Mariano Rivera, Torii Hunter, AJ Pierzynski, LaTroy Hawkins, Derek Jeter and Andy Pettitte are still active. That is actually a higher number than I expected.
  • All-Star Games did not give home-field advantage in the World Series.
  • The best-selling nonfiction book in America was Seabiscuit. The book, that is, not the movie. The movie wouldn’t be made for another two years.
  • The Nintendo 64 and the first Playstation were the most up-to-date video game systems.
  • Michael Jordan had not yet had his comeback with the Washington Wizards.
  • However, some thing have not changed: Vin Scully is still in the booth for the Dodgers, The Simpsons is still on the air, Bud Selig is still commissioner, nobody has approached Cy Young‘s win record, and, of course, the Cubs still haven’t won a World Series since 1908.