And ... In Other Sports, 1969

The Cubs and The Mets weren't the ONLY sports story in 1969 ...

In addition to the Amazing Mets winning the World Series, you can't forget that it followed Joe Namath and the Jets winning Super Bowl III in January.
Rich

Ah, yes!!! Broadway Joe! 

Actually, history has been rewritten to show the 1969 game as Super Bowl III ... but the truth is, this is the first year the battle between the NFL Division Leaders was actually CALLED "The Super Bowl", a phrase coined by Kansas City Chiefs Owner Lamar Hunt after reportedly seeing his grandchildren playing with a Super Ball! (NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle initially wanted to call the ultimate play-off game "The Big One" ... thankfully, the other league owners liked Hunt's idea better!!!)  

The Championship Series was initiated as a means to help pacify the merger of The National Football League and The American Football League into one football dynasty forever after known as The NFL. The best two teams in each conference would play each other in the game designed to show COMPLETE supremacy in the sport of football.  

The heavily favored Baltimore Colts won ten games straight that season behind the arm of quarterback Earl Morrall, substituting for an injured Johnny Unitas for most of the season. They finished the season 13-1 (and even that one loss was avenged when they shut out The Cleveland Browns 34-0 in The NFL Championship Game.) Even though Unitas was ready to play by Super Bowl time, Colts Coach Don Shula went with the guy who had gotten the team this far in the first place. (Morrall won The NFL Player Of The Year Award and threw 26 touchdowns that season!)  

Meanwhile, The New York Jets, 18-point underdogs at game time, led by Broadway Joe Namath ... probably an even bigger celebrity OFF the field than he was on ... dominated the game after showing virtually no interest in preparing for it. Instead, he was seen out late partying with his flock of female fans or sunning himself by the pool. Namath was a footloose and carefree soul, often spouting off to the press and totally amerced in his own celebrity. But he DID promise a Jets victory ... and to this regard, he delivered. It's still considered to be one of the best Super Bowl games ever.  

It is often said that when the truth and the legend collide, you should always print the legend. Such is the case with Joe Namath. Taking NOTHING away from his abilities or showmanship, the fact is that although Namath won The NFL / MVP Award that year, his season was uneven at best. (It was a running inside joke that in a loss to The Buffalo Bills, Namath threw SEVEN touchdown passes in that game ... unfortunately only four of those were to his own team ... the OTHER three were intercepted, allowing The Bills to capitalize on these mistakes and win the game!) While the memories may be golden, the truth is that this was pretty much the norm ... Namath threw more interceptions that season (17) than touchdown passes (15). But he kept his promise at Super Bowl time by delivering a Jets victory and, as such, has gone down in the annals of sports legend for his performance during that game ... despite the fact that he not only didn't throw a touchdown pass during the game, but, in fact, did not even attempt a single pass in the entire fourth quarter!!!  

The popularity of football had been overtaking America's so-called "National Past-Time" for a few years already ... and, during the 1969-1970 football season, the idea for Monday Night Football was born ... giving arm-chair quarterbacks one more opportunity to see their favorite teams play each week ... and the match-ups were typically geared with the ultimate sports fan in mind. (This new trend also gave birth to "Tuesday Morning Quarterbacks" ... and an AWFUL lot of sleepy Tuesday Mornings as millions of normally early risers stayed up WAY past their bedtimes to catch the end of the game!!!)  

Major League Baseball was trying out new ideas to keep their fans interested, too. With newly-appointed Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn in place, discussion of the designated hitter first came into play in 1969 (although it wouldn't be adopted until 1973.) The general feeling was that baseball was becoming dominated by superior pitching ... perhaps the addition of another "clutch hitter" in the line-up would liven things up a bit and bring more excitement to the game. (The counter philosophy to all of this was that this change would take away one of the ultimate managerial skills of knowing WHEN to take a pitcher out of a game ... if he's pitching well, do you let him bat in the late innings or, if you're down a couple of runs, do you bring in a pinch hitter and go to the bullpen?) Ultimately, only The American League adopted the designated hitter rule ... although The National League abides by it when playing in American League ballparks now that inter-league play is part of the regular season ... as well as in the post-season.  

Four new expansion teams were added to the major leagues that season: The Kansas City Royals and The Seattle Pilots (later Mariners) in The American League and The San Diego Padres and The Montreal Expos in The National League. With 24 teams now in existence, for the first time, both leagues were divided into two divisions, an East and West Division, now requiring a Play-Off Series prior to The World Series. (Baseball would expand again into THREE divisions, adding a Central Division in 1994.)  

In other baseball news, former Yankees Great Mickey Mantle decided to hang things up before the start of the 1969 baseball season ... this after 18 years with The Bronx Bombers. On June 8th of that year, Yankee Stadium held a special Mickey Mantle Day when they retired his uniform #7. Mantle was named American League MVP three times during his illustrious career. 

Speaking of baseball's greatest hitters, former Boston Red Sox Great, Ted Williams, was named manager of The Washington Senators that season as D.C. Stadium was renamed Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium. Although The Senators finished 23 games out of first place, Williams was STILL named American League Manager of The Year for improving the team's record by 41 games from the previous season.

Curt Flood made baseball as well as national headlines after the 1969 season when he refused to accept a trade from The St. Louis Cardinals to The Philadelphia Phillies.  

Appealing first to Commissioner Bowie Kuhn ... and then all the way to The Supreme Court ... Flood filed for what today is known as "Free Agency."  Flood argued "After twelve years in the major leagues, I do not feel I am a piece of property to be bought and sold irrespective of my wishes. I believe that any system which produces that result violates my basic rights as a citizen and is inconsistent with the laws of the United States and of the several States.  

"It is my desire to play baseball in 1970, and I am capable of playing. I have received a contract offer from the Philadelphia club, but I believe I have the right to consider offers from other clubs before making any decision. I, therefore, request that you make known to all Major League clubs my feelings in this matter, and advise them of my availability for the 1970 season." Flood would not win his case ... and ended up sitting out the 1970 baseball season ... but the rights of players were forever changed after he took his stand in 1969.

And here's a little known fun baseball fact: 

In 1963, San Francisco Giants Manager Alvin Dark remarked during a post-game interview, regarding the consistently weak hitting by his legendary pitcher Gaylord Perry, "They'll put a man on the moon before HE ever hits a home run." On July 20th, 1969, Perry hit his very first major league home run ... literally HOURS after Neil Armstrong took his first step on the moon!!!

Elsewhere in the wide, wide world of sports ...

Two basketball legends squared off against each other in The NBA Finals that year. Bill Russell of The Boston Celtics and Wilt Chamberlain of The L.A. Lakers faced each other for the last time in this classic match-up, won by Boston in the seventh game after Chamberlain injured his knee and was unable to return to the court. It would be Russell's last year on the court. (In fact, his "official" status that season was Player / Coach.) Wilt The Stilt had only recently come over from The Philadelphia 76ers and fell right into form leading The Lakers to The Division Championship Series. (Nice of him to squeeze in some of those basketball games between his 10,000 bedroom conquests!!!)

In 1969, Boxing Great Muhammad Ali was still serving out his suspension from boxing as part of his draft evasion conviction a couple of years before. With Ali stripped of his title, Joe Frazier was crowned the new World Champ and in 1969 he defeated Jerry Quarry. (Both would prove to be fitting Ali nemesis when Ali returned to the ring the following year. In 1970, The State of Georgia allowed Ali to fight Jerry Quarry and in 1971 the first of the legendary Ali-Frazier Fights was held.) One of the all-time boxing greats, Rocky Marciano, passed away in 1969.  

Another guy making headlines that year was young Mario Andretti, who won The Indianapolis 500. In fact, he won eight other races on the Indy Car circuit, won The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb and was named Athlete Of The Year by ABC's Wide World Of Sports. Ironically, despite winning The Daytona 500 in 1967, The Indianapolis 500 in 1969 and The Formula One World Championship in 1978, Andretti never again won at Indy.

Cubs / Mets - Part Two

[PLEASE NOTE:  These comments first ran in Forgotten Hits on August 19th, 2009 ... we welcome your NEW comments after reviewing our synopsis of The Story Of The Year when it comes to Baseball, 1969 ... and will run them in an upcoming post. - kk]

Kent:
God, it was athletic poetry. Sadly, it was the last great hurrah. August 19, 1969, dawned hot and muggy in Chicago with the Cubs and Kenny Holtzman going head to head against the Atlanta Braves.
The Cubbies were so rich with new-found success that players were already talking about how they'd distribute play-off tickets. Keep in mind, this club hadn't been to a World Series since 1945. By the way, the last time I checked the meter, this club STILL hadn't been to a World Series since, uh, 1945. Hey, any club's entitled to a bad century.
How could you blame the Cubs for feeling like acne-faced, 12 year old little girls, screaming about The Monkees? Nobody west of Time Square thought the Mets, under the venerable Gil Hodges, had a chance in the old National Legaue East to catch up to the Cubs ... the gap was just too great. Cub Power wasn't just in vogue, it was becoming a way of life.
Sports Illustrated threw Ron Santo on a cover in July with the caption, "Chicago's Raucolus Cubs."
Do you remember the drive by Henry Aaron deep in sixth or seventh inning of that Cubs - Braves ballgame? The Hey - Hey man Jack Brickhouse, also the Godfather of my daughter, was behind the mic for WGN. Jack broadcast a number of no-hitters and thought he had another in his grasp until the Aaron blast. Brick actually said, "There goes the no hitter" as Bad Henry's fly ball appeared to be headed toward a face to face meeting with an apartment building across Waveland Avenue.
Now, this just had to be an act of God or ex-Cubs boss P.K.Wrigley. At the last instant, the ball just died ... flat out hit an invisible shield and was caught by Billy Williams in the "well" in left. You had to see it to believe it and I was fortunate enough to be part of the act.
As a young reporter, I was dispatched to Cubs park by the news department at WFLD TV to interview Holtzman. Kenny was obvioulsy thrilled. His blood pressure had to be running about 190 over 130. But I'll never forget his last few remarks to me.
"You know this is great," Holtzman told me. "But just imagine how our fans will react when we get to the playoffs."
So bring on the Titanic. Bring on the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. The Cubs, as I recall, were 8 games up on the Mets following the day's action.
About three weeks later, they were Max Schmeling on the canvas after he rematched Joe Louis. The Cubs epic collapse took the life out of this city during a wonderful summer.
It also set the table for a lousy Bears club, a club that invented bad breaks and bad karma, to go 1 and 13.
The Cubbies, despite 92 regular season wins, weren't a winner. They were Norman Bates' mother in "Psycho."
Yet, to this day, that team is still beloved, deified by baseball fans in our town.
Ernie, Ron, Billy, Rebel Hundley, Fergie Jenkins ... they all deserved a better fate. It just wasn't in the cards. The Mets down the stretch were trip aces ... The Cubs were Jake La Motta getting pounded by Sugar Ray Robinson.
It shouldn't have been that way ... but it was ...
No reason ... it just was.
Still hurts.
Always will.
Chet Coppock

Thanks, Chet, for that account ... as only YOU could deliver it!!!
Don't forget to order a copy of Chet's brand new book, "Fat Guys Shouldn't Be Dancing At Half Time". More info here: Click here: ChetCoppock.com

Hey Kent,
Love your new segment on the year of "69".
Being 12 years old back in that glorious year, I have many memories. I remember sitting in front of the TV watching Walter Cronkite when they landed on the moon. I went outside with binoculars to see the astronauts on the moon (what a dumbass I was, huh?).
But, I will say my biggest memory of "69" was the Chicago Cubs. Ernie Banks with his slogan for the year of " The Cubs will Shine in '69" had the Cub fans hoping.
The season started out so great with Willie Smith hitting a pinch homer in the opener and Jack Brickhouse letting out a huge " HEY-HEY that-a-boy, Willie".
(Not exactly a PC comment nowadays!).
Yes, the Cubs season was underway with a great victory!
And as the season went on, the victories continued ... the Cubs were in 1st place until September 9th, when on that night a black cat walked past Ron Santo in the on deck circle at Shea Stadium ... uh-oh, our lead was fading and now the dreaded black cat -- could this be happening? ...
Although the Cubs did win the game that night to stay in 1st place, that was the end and the Cubs would never see 1st place again.
A team called the Mets came from behind to overtake the Cubs and even go on to win the series. Cub fans still look back and say WTF happened!!!
Yes, the Mets, a team that lost 120 games their first year in the majors only 7 years earlier, go on to win the series.
Cub fans do have one good Mets memory from that year. A guy named Jimmy Qualls in a July game at Shea Stadium earlier that year broke up Tom Seaver's perfect game in the 9th inning with a base hit. The season ended and the hope faded, but hey, wait 'til next year!!!
Well, I've been a Cubs fan for 43 years and I'm still waiting for that year arrive.
Don't laugh, Met fans ... your boys aren't doing so hot this year either.
But all kidding aside, the Cubs and Mets have a great rivialry because of that year. Here it is 40 years later and we're still talking about it, the Mets fans for winning it and the Cubs fans for what might have been.
Mike Mertes
C'mon, enough already!!! Cub fans have been hiding behind the excuses of black cats and billy goats for DECADES now!!! Somehow they just seem to collapse under pressure ... yet they have always been baseball's "lovable losers"!!!
Quite honestly, in 1969 they probably just burned themselves out ... their season PRIOR to September was exemplary ... they literally could do no wrong. Maybe they got a little over-confident? Maybe they just got tired. Maybe it just wasn't their year ... but a 17-game spread turn-around at the end of the season wasn't something you typically saw ... so the Cubs' collapse ... and the rise of The Mets became the focal point of the nation that summer.
Personally, I hated to see Tom Seaver lose his perfect game ... it would have just made for just one more incredible highlight in a pretty inexplicable season. (Ironically, outfielder Jimmy Qualls was only in the line-up that day because Cubs Manager Leo Durocher had benched regular outfielder Don Young for dropping a routine fly ball the day before that Durocher said his thirteen year old son could have caught!!!)
The bottom line is, The Mets' statistics for 1969 are truly nothing short of amazing. Dubbed by The New York Media as "The Lovable Losers", The Mets set the record for the most games EVER lost by a major league team in a single season when they dropped 120 games in their inaugural season. It's a record that STILL stands to this day, giving whole new meaning to the phrase "From Worst To First"!!! In fact, The Mets finished dead last in five of their first six seasons. Previously their best season (the first under new manage Gil Hodges) saw them finish sixteen games below .500. But, as mentioned yesterday, even these depressing statistics don't accurately paint the picture of just how consistently horrible they really were.
The Mets had never been more than two games above .500 during their first seven seasons ... and had never been more than ONE game over .500 past the first week of any previous season! And, quite honestly, 1969 didn't start out any more promising. The Mets lost their season opener to The Montreal Expos ... an expansion team that didn't even EXIST the year before ... that's right, a team that had never even played a Major League Game before came out and defeated our Lovable Losers! In fact, they lost seven of their first ten games. Meanwhile, The Cubs won their first four games and eleven out of their first twelve. Without question, they were shaping up as the team to beat.
Whereas The Mets didn't really have a "star" player in their line-up, the entire Cubs infield of Ernie Banks, Glenn Beckert, Don Kessinger and Ron Santo was named to The National League All-Star Team that season, along with catcher Randy Hundley. Their pitching staff included Ferguson Jenkins, Kenny Holtzman and Bill Hands ... and they had the great Billy Williams in the outfield! HOW could THIS team lose?!?!? At The All-Star Break, The Cubs held a commanding eight game lead over The Mets.
What The Mets may have lacked in offense, they more than made up for with an INCREDIBLE pitching staff ... and many of these "also-ran" position players had career seasons. Little by little, they whittled away at The Cubs lead ... and, when the dust finally settled, they pulled off a seventeen game turn-around, going from being 9 1/2 games behind to winning the division by eight games. TRULY AMAZING!!! (kk)

Hi Kent.
You asked for some Mets memories from 1969. I was only eleven, so don't have much.
I lived in Queens, and with my best friend, would take the bus into Jamaica, the E or F train to Roosevelt Avenue, then transfer upstairs to the Flushing Line to Shea. And we did this by ourselves!
We saved ahead of time to buy field level box seats for a doubleheader against the Cardinals that summer. Great seats near first base (I believe the tickets were $6.50). I can't tell you who won the games. About the only thing I remember is that Tommie Agee struck out five times.
The other doubleheader we went to was Banner Day, which we tried to go to every year. Between games, the fans got to go on the field with their homemade banners. They would enter in center field, walk across to home plate, then around the sidelines back to the outfield. Prizes were given for the best ones. Had to have been hundreds of people marching around the field. A lot of fun, actually going on the field. After the game we would wait around by the players parking area and get autographs as they left. Still have some of them.
Again, not much for you. We were just kids.
Also, have to give a mention of the Jets winning the Superbowl earlier that year.
Rich
Thanks, Rich ... yes, we'll cover some of the OTHER sports headlines of 1969 tomorrow in Forgotten Hits! (kk)

When I think of 1969 I can't help but think of the recent movie "Frequency". It's one of our top favorites, blending so many elements that I'm interested in. Heck, you have a hot woman, kids and bicycles, baseball, ham radio, cops and firefighters, time travel, imperfect people struggling to figure life out, some great acting - and the good guys win! (That's not a comment on the Series: I didn't have a favorite.) Too far off the beaten path for Forgotten Hits?
David Lewis
Not at all ... "Frequency" is one of OUR favorite recent movies, too ... and I had forgotten how big a part 1969 played in the film. (In fact, the Cleon Jones / shoe polish incident becomes a MAJOR part of the drama!!!) If you haven't seen this film, it's well worth renting ... it's also been playing on cable quite a bit recently. (kk)

Regarding The '69 Mets ... In those days, all the World Series games were played during the day, so that meant during school hours for weekday games. Normally, in my northern New Jersey high school, bringing a transistor radio to school was frowned upon, but the excitement surrounding the Mets in the Series that year was so high that for most of my classes I was allowed to listen to the game through my radio's earpiece and, at the end of each inning, update the score on the blackboard.
- Randy Price
I had forgotten about that ... being all day games, I mean!!! I guess I went to a pretty progressive school ... I remember the teachers having the radios on IN THE CLASSROOM ... Shop Class in particular ... so that we, too, could listen in to the games. The whole city was pretty much in a Cubs Frenzy for most of the season ... 155 days in first place will do that to a team that hadn't won a World Series in over sixty years!!! So when The Mets finally overtook the Cubs and headed into Post Season Play, we pretty much collectively went from frenzy to funk ... a LOT of people refused to watch or listen to the games at all! (Chicago's kinda like that!!! lol) kk

THIS JUST IN: I just found this posted regarding former Chicago White Sox Infielder (and Mets World Series Hero) Al Weiss ... sounds like a reunion is in the works for the '69 team ... and just look who's planning to attend!
Click here: Former Mets infielder Al Weis is always in the Spirit of '69

Cubs / Mets

[PLEASE NOTE:  This article first appeared in Forgotten Hits on August 18th, 2009 ... ten years ago ... and seven years prior to The Cubs capturing the hearts of America and winning The World Series in 2016.  As such, several team statistics noted here are at least three years out of date and, in some cases, as many as ten years out of date.  We are rerunning it today because the story of the collapse of The 1969 Chicago Cubs was one of the biggest stories ... sports or otherwise ... of that year ... and simply cannot be excluded from our year-long tribute to 1969.  Oh yeah ... and it gives me one more chance to make fun of The Cubbies. - kk]

OK, before we go any further, there's probably something that you REALLY should know about me first ...  

I have NEVER been a Cubs fan.  

I discovered baseball ... and The Chicago White Sox ... in 1963 ... and have been a fan of this team ever since.  

I don't even know what it is about the Cubs that made me not like them ...  

I was never really part of any inter-city rivalry between the two clubs ...

(although, quite honestly, there DID seem to be some sort of unwritten law growing up in Chicago that you couldn't like both teams ... you had to like one or the other) ...  

But, in all fairness, I can ALSO honestly say that nobody TAUGHT me to hate The Cubs ... or to like The White Sox ...

I just did! 

In fact, I remember as a kid my Dad taking me to half a dozen Sox games and then insisting that we make just ONE visit to Wrigley Field so I could better appreciate the fact that Chicago was home to TWO major league teams.

I hated it ... 

With a passion!!!  

I STILL hate ANYTHING to do with Wrigley Field and that whole area ... 

Not the LEAST of which is the parking situation.  

It doesn't matter WHEN the game ends ... you can STILL be boxed in a parking lot for the next four hours while the patrons visit the neighborhood bars of Wrigleyville.  

And when I say "boxed in", I mean boxed in ...  

They literally have parked me rear view mirror to inter-locked rear view mirror ...  

where there was absolutely NO way to get your car out without doing some type of damage to it.  

To this day, I will ONLY go to Wrigley Field if The Cubs are playing against The Sox ...  

And even then, I'll only go maybe once every three or four years.  

Suffice to say ... quite emphatically ... I have NEVER been a Cubs Fan.

That being said, the closest I ever came to BEING a Cubs Fan was 1969.  

That was the year that they nearly won it all.  

I had never seen them put a better team on the field. The line-up was nothing short of amazing:  

Catcher Randy Hundley ... First Baseman Ernie Banks ("Mr. Cub" ... he of "Let's Play Two" fame back in the day when they regularly scheduled double-headers as part of the baseball season) ... Second Baseman Glenn Beckert ... Shortstop Don Kessinger (who would go on to manage The White Sox a few years later) and legendary Third Baseman Ron Santo. This was a Hall-Of-Fame caliber infield that for SOME reason (short of Banks) has managed to elude induction for all these years. 

The outfield consisted of Billy Williams, one of the nicest guys in baseball, Don Young and Jim Hickman ... and high-quality reserves like Al Spangler, Willie Smith, Oscar Gamble and Adolfo Phillips.  

And how about that pitching staff? Fergie Jenkins, Bill Hands and Ken Holtzman ... between these three starters, they won 58 games that year ... and the team won 92 under the leadership of scrappy Leo Durocher. The bullpen was led by Ted Abernathy and Phil Regan and for MOST of the season these guys could do no wrong. Billy Williams and Ferguson Jenkins would ultimately join "Mr. Cub" Ernie Banks in The Cooperstown Hall Of Fame ... and Ron Santo STILL ranks as one of their greatest omissions. The truth is, they were nothing short of amazing ... but soon that very adjective ... and the division lead ... would move some 800 miles east and into the hands of The New York Mets.  

How sudden and extensive was the collapse?  

On August 19th ... 40 years ago today ... The Cubs held a 9 1/2 game lead over The New York Mets. Up to this point, The Cubs had spent 155 days in first place ... it was a foregone conclusion that they were the best team in baseball that year and were on their way to winning their first pennant in nearly 25 years. 

They started the season by winning 11 out of their first 12 games ... but once September hit, they dropped 17 out of 25 games (while The Mets went 23-7) and this ultimately sealed their fate. (In fact, The Mets won 39 out of their last 50 games of the season ... and earlier in the year had put together an 11-game winning streak!) When the dust finally settled, it was The Mets finishing over The Cubs by a margin of eight games ... a total spread of 17 games during the last six weeks of the season!  

I cannot tell a lie ... there was a part of me that rejoiced at the collapse of The Cubs (as a number of Sox fans did ... you just KNEW they were gonna blow it!) ... and the outcome of this season has haunted the team ever since. (The Cubs hadn't made it to The World Series since 1945 ... and they STILL haven't; The Mets, on the other hand, had only been in existence for seven short seasons ... and literally went "From Worst To First" after being a complete laughing stock under previous manager Casey Stengel.) In 1962, The Mets lost 120 games, a record that still stands today as the most games ever lost by a major league team in a single season. How consistently bad were they? Incredibly, other than 1966, The Mets had NEVER been over the .500 mark in ANY season past the third game of the season prior to winning it all in '69! (To paraphrase Time Magazine, if, as they say, baseball is a game of inches, then The Mets were missing by YARDS!!!)  

Their line-up wasn't really the stuff that legends are made of either ... I paid particular attention to former White Sox players Tommie Agee (one of my all-time favorites), catcher J.C. Martin and infielder Al Weis (now used primarily in reserve, Weis had hit a grand total of seven home runs spread out over the past ten seasons ... but then hit one in The World Series as a Met and became a national hero!!!), Cleon Jones (remember the shoe polish controversy?!?!?), Ed Kranepool, Bud Harrelson, Jerry Grote, Rod Gaspar ... hardly household names some 40 years later ... but the pitching staff boasted a couple of young newcomers named Tom Seaver and Nolan Ryan and, along with starter Jerry Koosman and relief ace Tug McGraw, The Mets put together a team ERA of 2.99. Led by Seaver's 25 wins, The Mets won 100 games that season. (In fact, Seaver one-hit The Cubs that season, too! Sports Illustrated Magazine named him Sportsman of the Year, 1969.)  

Join us tomorrow as we present memories from the perspective of BOTH dugouts, as recalled by some of the fans who witnessed this incredible season! They'll recount their joy and jubilation ... or reveal some emotional scars that STILL haven't healed, even after 40 years.  

By the way, former Cub (and White Sox) Don Kessinger recently wrote the forward to a book called "The Miracle Collapse of the 1969 Chicago Cubs" ... you can find it here ... interesting reading for sure if you're stuck in 1969 like WE have been all month long!!!
Click here: http://www.amazon.com/Miracle-Collapse-1969-Chicago-Cubs/dp/080322026X

[originally published August 18, 2009, Forgotten Hits]

August 18th

Two of the hottest records we've been tracking continue to climb as The Rolling Stones reach their FOURTH Week at #1 with "Honky Tonk Women."  Closing the ranks this week are "Lay Lady Lay" by Bob Dylan (now #4, up from #13 last week) and "Green River" by Creedence Clearwater Revival, which now sits at #8, up from #14.  The rest of The Top 10 is status quo.

But don't rule out "Easy To Be Hard" by Three Dog Night (up from #19 to #13) or "Sugar Sugar" by The Archies, which leaps twelve places from #28 to #16.  (I think THIS is the one to watch!)

Little Anthony and the Imperials seem to have a comeback hit on their hands as "Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind" climbs from #30 to #23.  (This record just doesn't seem to fit in 1969!  It just sounds completely out of place with the rest of what's playing on the radio today.)  Meanwhile, The Lettermen's remake of Little Anthony's "Hurt So Bad" is now the #2 song in Chicagoland, making it the biggest hit they ever had on the WLS Chart.


 
The 1910 Fruitgum Company seem to have another bubblegum hit (this is their SIXTH!) as "The Train" climbs from #39 to #25, a move of fourteen places, making it the biggest mover of the week.  (Although this one will eventually peak at #9 on the WLS Chart, it's not one of the band's more memorable tunes ... making it the PERFECT qualifier for this week's Forgotten Hit!)


I especially like three of this week's newcomers to the chart ... "What Kind Of Fool Do You Think I Am" by Bill Deal and the Rhondels (#30), "This Girl Is A Woman Now" by Gary Puckett and the Union Gap (#36) and "When I Die" by Motherlode (#38). 



 
And how can I leave out Dickie Goodman, who ALWAYS did well here in Chicago. His latest (and first chart hit in three years) "Luna Trip" premiers at #34.  (And that's as high as it will ever get!)  A pretty timely record, however, coming out just two months after the moon landing.


THIS WEEK IN 1969:  

August 13^th – The Guess Who record their future #1 Hit “American Woman” right here in Chicago!  The song grew out of an onstage jam started by guitarist Randy Bachman when technical difficulties delayed their show.  Lead vocalist Burton Cummings started improvising words and when they saw the reaction from the crowd, they knew they had something here … and went back to the studio to develop it further.  They also received a Gold Record today for their first big US Hit, “These Eyes.”

August 14th - Johnny Cash scores a gold record for "A Boy Named Sue" 

August 15th - 17th - Woodstock Music and Arts Festival is held on Max Yasgur’s 600-acre farm in Bethel,New York.  Yasgur’s farm will ultimately play host to over 500,000 fans.  Crosby, Stills and Nash, Joe Cocker, Sha Na Na, Jefferson Airplane, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Joan Baez, Richie Havens, Santana, The Who, Arlo Guthrie, Country Joe and the Fish, Ten Years After and Sly and the Family Stone are among the acts that perform.  It remains the most well-know rock festival in history. 

Also on this date, Three Dog Night are awarded a Gold Record for their first, self-titled album.

August 16^th – Pete Townshend of The Who knocks Abbie Hoffman off the stage during The Who’s set at Woodstock.  Pete said later that he didn’t know it was Hoffman, leader of The Hippies Movement, who was trying to get on stage to make a political statement.

Also on this date Melanie and O.C. Smith perform on The Johnny Cash Show.

August 17^th – Hurricane Camille, the most powerful hurricane in history to this point, hits the Mississippi coast, killing 248 people and causing over $1.5 Billion in damages (1969 dollars … about $10.5 billion in 2018 dollars)  

Also on this date, Steppenwolf perform on The Ed Sullivan Show this evening, singing "It's Never Too Late" and a medley of "Born To Be Wild" and "Magic Carpet Ride."  

And, Singer Donnie Wahlberg (New Kids On The Block) is born 

August 18^th – Actors Christian Slater and Edward Norton are born 

Also on this date, Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones nearly had his hand blow off when an old gun backfired while filming the movie “Ned Kelly” in Australia.

WOODSTOCK - Part Three (August 17th)

During our 40^th Anniversary celebration, longtime Forgotten Hits Reader Bill Hengels supplied this interesting story about a couple who were at the original festival.  (Where the heck do they find these people after all these years?!?!?)
 

Sadly, we lost Bill a few years ago … he was always an active contributor to our efforts here in Forgotten Hits … and also a true fan of what we did.  He is missed.

I can tell you this … 


One glance at this photo and you'll know IMMEDIATELY who we're talking about. It's been etched in our brains for nearly 40 years now!!! Enjoy!  (kk)


I saw this last week in the papers. Thought it was timely for your article on Woodstock!
Bill


Woodstock concert's undercover lovers, Nick and Bobbi Ercoline, 40 years after summer of love
By Jim Farber / DAILY NEWS MUSIC CRITIC
Updated Tuesday, July 7th 2009, 3:08 PM
© Burk Uzzle / Courtesy Laurence Miller Gallery, New York

Love in 1969: Nick and Bobbi Ercoline were immortalized on the cover of the original 'Woodstock' album in 1970, 

as well as on the movie poster.

 

And still going strong in 2009 -

the couple, now both age 60, reprise their iconic pose nearly 40 years later.

Of all the images snapped during the original Woodstock weekend, one stands above all: a young couple huddled together in a blanket, standing alone in a sea of people lying on wet ground.

It's an enduring image of love, care and protection that earned iconic status through its placement on the cover of the original "Woodstock" album in 1970, as well as on the movie poster.

Forty years later, the couple in the photo - Nick and Bobbi Ercoline, both 60 - remain together. They married two summers after the fabled weekend, and they still live less than an hour's drive from the original concert site of Bethel, N.Y., and within spitting distance of where they both grew up.

Nick Ercoline works for the Orange County, N.Y., Department of Housing. Bobbi is a resident nurse at the elementary school in their hometown of Pine Bush.

The 40th anniversary of the ultimate hippie be-in, this Aug. 15-17, has thrown the Ercolines into the spotlight again - something they never expected or sought.

They say they remember nothing of the original shot, taken by Burk Uzzle. "We weren't striking a pose," Nick says. "We were as surprised as everybody to see that photo on the album cover."

They discovered it while at a friend's house listening to the album and passing around the gatefold jacket. First, Nick recognized the famous yellow butterfly staff in the left corner. "It belonged to this guy Herbie," Nick says. "We latched on to him that day because he was having a very bad experience. He was tripping pretty heavily and he had lost his friends. After I saw that staff I said, 'Hey that's our blanket.' Then I said, 'Hey, that's us.'"

Bobbi, then 20, wasn't overly impressed. "Woodstock was over and done with at that time," she says. "It didn't seem like a big deal. The only thing was that then I had to tell my mother I had gone. She didn't know. But by then, she didn't mind."

The two had arrived in the middle of the weekend, a rare feat given that all main roads were closed by then. "We were local kids, so we knew the back roads," Nick says. "About 5 miles away we abandoned this big white 1965 Chevrolet Impala station wagon."

The two didn't realize the impact their photo had until Woodstock's 20th anniversary, when the world's media began seeking them out. In fact, their memories of the original event have more to do with the scene than the music, because they were too far away to hear or see much.

"I remember the rain, the lack of toilets and the body odor," Bobbi says.  "I also remember an orange haze from the glowing lights of the stage. It was everywhere, lighting up the sky."

The pair had met only three months earlier, over Memorial Day weekend, at the bar where Nick worked. "This waiter brought this beautiful blond in one day and said, 'This is my girlfriend; keep an eye on her,'" Nick explains. "Every night she stood in front of me and we got friendlier and friendlier. Then one weekend he made the mistake of leaving her home while he went to the shore with the guys and he never told her. That was the end of that. And the beginning of this."

Despite all the time gone by, Nick says they still get recognized. "We were in Germany, and right when we walked into the hotel they knew who we were."

As to why their photo was chosen, Nick has a theory. "It's peaceful, which is what the event was about," he says. "And it's an honest representation of a generation. When we look at that photo I don't see Bobbi and me. I see our generation."
-- submitted by Bill Hengels, 2009

And finally, a '60's FLASHBACK of our own:

Eons ago, we interviewed Henry Gross for Forgotten Hits. Here's what HE had to say about the whole Woodstock Experience:

Prior to his success as a solo artist, Henry Gross started his career as the original lead guitarist in the camp '50's group Sha Na Na back in the late '60's. (Performing at WOODSTOCK just HAD to be one of the career highlights for this guy!!!) So we asked him about it!

FORGOTTEN HITS: You obviously had a real appreciation for the rock music that started it all in order to have been involved with Sha Na Na from the very beginning. Can you tell us how the concept for that band came about?

HENRY GROSS: Sha Na Na started when a college glee club, "The Columbia Kingsmen", did a few oldies at a school pub called " The Lion's Den" to a tumultuous response. Seeing this, the brother of one of the members, George Leonard, had the vision and put the concept to the members. Some stayed, some quit when the new direction was taken. I was at a different college but was in a band with two of the members of that glee club. They asked me to join and I did.

FH: The band took a tongue-in-cheek look at some of the music of the '50's in their stage act but musically and vocally were right on the money ... in other words, the music never suffered. How did Sha Na Na happen to be booked at Woodstock? What was that whole experience like? There couldn't have been a less-likely audience for you to play to!!!

HG: After playing at the hottest club in New York, The "Steve Paul Scene" and playing at "The Fillmore East" to incredible reactions, we were added to the bill at "Woodstock". Woodstock was great fun. Got to drive to the stage (for about three hours) with Jerry Garcia! Great guy! I also got to spend time with Jimi Hendrix, who I'd gotten to know fairly well through a guy called Velvert Turner who sat next to me in "The Midwood High School Mixed Chorus" in Brooklyn. Velvert was very close with Jimi and I was lucky to have had the opportunity to know both of them, as they were really great and talented guys. Also met and spoke to Alvin Lee, who is a friend of mine today, although he has no recollection of our meeting then. Why would he? It was right after he came off stage and there were 300,000 other folks talking to him at approximately the same time!

In many ways, 1969 seemed to be the first time we as a musical society took a look back at our rock and roll roots. Certainly Sha Na Na's "camp" performance at Woodstock gave us a fun way to relive some of this great music ... but we can't hold them solely responsible for this trend in nostalgia. Several other factors certainly helped to influence this trend.

Elvis' 1968 Television Comeback Special, for example, did it for me ... I've told the story before about how I only tuned into this in the first place because I had read in some teen magazine that Ringo Starr was going to be appearing, playing drums on some of Elvis' songs. By 1968, Elvis was pretty much off the radio ... his mid-'60's hits weren't making much of an impression on the charts ... but in December of 1968 he COMPLETELY blew me away when he performed some of his biggest '50's hits clad in his black leather outfit. I simply HAD to have this music ... and went out the next day to buy copies of most of the songs I heard that night. (Fortunately, a nearby record shop had a selection of Golden Oldies 45s and I was able to pick up the Elvis hits "Heartbreak Hotel", "All Shook Up", "Hound Dog", "Love Me Tender", "Can't Help Falling In Love", "One Night" and "Guitar Man" that day ... along with his brand new single, "If I Can Dream", which would put The King back up at the top of the charts again for the first time in a long time.)

Keep in mind that Elvis' greatest contribution to the advancement of rock and roll music was already a full decade behind him by 1968 ... after he got out of the Army, he started cranking out all those God-awful movies and saw most of his chart action reflected in the title tunes and soundtrack filler from those films. In 1968, he introduced a whole new generation (myself included) to the music and excitement we missed the first time around. 

Keep in mind, too, that in 1969 Oldies Radio didn't exist yet ... although within a couple of years this would become a VERY viable format of radio programming. Back then, our oldies were the hits of the late '50's and early '60's ... Top 40 Radio pretty much only played the hits of the day in repeated fashion ... there really wasn't anybody committed to keeping this older music alive or in our consciousness. 

Quite honestly, music was changing and evolving SO quickly back then, those early hits probably seemed even more passé then than they do to so many programmers now!  (Here in 2019, oldies radio seems to only exist on the Internet … very few mainstream terrestrial stations are programming this music these days.  Thus again we salute Me-TV-FM for proving that there is still a market for all this great music and memories.)

Thanks to the Woodstock concert film, Sha Na Na was singled out as providing a fun, nostalgic look back in a camp sort of way ... but Ten Years After ALSO incorporated some of these early hits into their performance of "Goin' Home" that night at Woodstock. And let's not forget the big Cat Mother and the Newsboys Hit "Good Old Rock And Roll" from earlier in '69 that ran a medley of Sweet Little Sixteen / Long Tall Sally / Chantilly Lace / Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On / Blue Suede Shoes and Party Doll together ... produced by Woodstock closer Jimi Hendrix no less! Certainly ALL of these factors helped to introduce a whole new audience to "Good Time" Rock and Roll.

Soon, movies like "American Graffiti" and television shows like "Happy Days" became THE way to look back to "Where Were You In '62?" ... I personally discovered some of my all-time favorite oldies (like "Since I Don't Have You" by The Starliners and "All Summer Long" by The Beach Boys and "Sixteen Candles" by The Crests ... which Sha Na Na ALSO did an incredible job on, by the way) ... "I Only Have Eyes For You" by The Flamingos, "The Stroll" by The Diamonds, "Come Go With Me" by The Del-Vikings and SO many others thanks to the "American Graffiti" soundtrack.  Hearing this music for the very first time was like that magical moment in “The Wizard Of Oz” when your entire world changes from black and white to color … I had to stop and by the 2-LP Soundtrack Album on my way home from the movie theater … I just couldn’t absorb it all fast enough.  "Happy Days" took it a step further by pounding "Rock Around The Clock" and "Blueberry Hill" into our heads every Tuesday Night.  I continued to dig deeper and deeper to discover all that I had missed prior to my discovery of Top 40 Radio during The British Invasion.

In fact, The British Invasion helped fuel my interest even further … 

While it’s true that most of these early rock artists had been absent from the airwaves for quite a few years, thanks to the artists of The British Invasion in the mid-'60's, much of this music was revamped and fed back to us, opening up a whole new means of discovery.  (All they were doing was taking our American rock and roll, which inspired them to pick up instruments in the first place, putting their own spin on it, and then feeding it back to us.  All I know is, it worked … Good Music is Good Music.)

By the late ‘60’s, there was a definite turn to much "heavier" and progressive rock ... but by 1972 ... right around the time that Oldies Radio first came into prominence ... some of the biggest Rock And Roll Forefathers were back up at the top of the charts when Elvis, Chuck Berry and Rick Nelson ALL scored Top Five Hits with the likes of "Burning Love", "My Ding-A-Ling" and "Garden Party" respectively. Even '60's artists who had been absent from the charts for a while were enjoying newfound success ... The Hollies with "Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress", Johnny Rivers with "Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie-Woogie Flu" and Cher with "The Way Of Love", all of which were MAJOR hits in '72 by artists we hadn't even THOUGHT about in ages!!! (Let's face it ... although they performed at Woodstock and would even go on to have their own TV show, Sha Na Na never actually had a hit record!!!) 

1972 was ALSO the year that Don McLean gave us "American Pie", a look back at Buddy Holly and "The Day The Music Died" ... "Rockin' Robin" was a hit all over again in the hands of little Michael Jackson as was "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" by Robert John (incredibly produced by a couple of the original Tokens who first took that song to #1 back in 1961!) Other big remakes in 1972 include "Puppy Love" and "Too Young" by Donny Osmond, "Hot Rod Lincoln" by Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen, "Little Bitty Pretty One" by The Jackson Five and "Sealed With A Kiss" by Bobby Vinton, another name from the past.

And quality remakes have been with us ever since, introducing each new generation of radio listeners to the music that made us feel good way back when.

We hope you all enjoyed this look back at The Woodstock Era ... lots more great 1969 Memories to come so please stay with us!