Pro Sports in the 1960s
Some people would say that the way professional sports were played in the 50s and 60s seemed exactly the same. In some cases, that statement is true. The same changes occurred, such as the expansion and development of the professional leagues, the increasing popularity of television broadcasts and, of course, the rule changes to make the games much more exciting and entertaining to watch. In Major League Baseball, one of the most popular records was about to be broken which was the most homeruns in a season. In 1961, sluggers Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle of the New York Yankees were headed to break Babe Ruth's record of sixty homeruns, which was set in 1927. Commissioner Ford Frick didn't think it was right for Maris or Mantle to appear in the record books because Ruth set that record in a 154 game schedule. Maris and Mantle had an advantage because the MLB increased to 162 games in a regular season. So Frick came up with a plan that seemed rather fair. He ruled that Maris or Mantle would have to surpass 60 homers within 154 games in order to have their names be put in the record books. That season Maris was able to surpass Ruth by hitting sixty-one homeruns but because of Frick's ruling, he was not placed in the reco
Thorn, John. A Century of Baseball Lore. New York: the National Basketball Association. New York: Berkow, Ira. Oscar Robertson: The Golden Year 1964. Hart Publishing Co. Inc., 1974. NHL Media Ventures, "NHL.com". NHL Timeline. 3/01/01, http://www.nhl.com/hockeyu/history/timeline/index.html. Probably the most similar of all however, was the beginning of the Age of Expansion which was often compared to the Stagel Era. One writer once quoted, "The Stagel Era was to the Age of Expansion just like how Roosevelt's 'New Deal' was to Truman's 'Fair Deal'." Basically what that writer was pointing out was that the Age of Expansion was just a continuance to the Stagel Era. Many new franchises were being formed and many teams were choosing to move to much larger cities. In 1962, the National League added two new teams - the New York Mets and the Baltimore Colt .45's Franchises began to move again in 1963 as the Dallas Texans went to Kansas City and was renamed the Chiefs. Also the New York Titans were renamed the Jets. The agreement between the NFL and AFL quickly went away in 1966 when Al Davis took over as AFL commissioner. The two leagues then decided to play against each other in a championship game called the "Super Bowl." Lamar Hunt came up with the name after watching his daughter play with a super ball. The first Super Bowl was played between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Green Bay Packers in 1967. The Packers won the first Super Bowl as they continued their dynasty throughout the 60s, winning six championships under Coach Lombardi. So the new NBA Commissioner Walter Kennedy did the only thing he could do which was listen to the players. Kennedy talked to the owners and they finally reached an agreement just before tipoff would start. The All-Star game would be continued as planned and no one would've guessed that the NBA could've lost everything just hours ago. Lazenby, Roland. The Pictorial History of Football.
Some common words found in the essay are:
Walter Kennedy, Boston Celtics, Maris Mantle, Wilt Chamberlain, Marv Throneberry, Baltimore Colt, Blues NHL, , Dave Podoloff, League ABA, all-star game, los angeles, kansas city, age expansion, professional basketball, record books, national league, nbc decided, professional leagues, maris mantle, pitcher throw hitter, moved los angeles,
Approximate Word count = 2030
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
