April 17 in sports history: Mickey Mantle's monster mash

ALSO

1929: Babe Ruth married his second wife, Claire Merritt Hodgson. Because the baseball season was under way, the honeymoon was postponed. 

"We're not going on a honeymoon," Mrs. Ruth happily said, according to The Associated Press. "We're going to work now and win another pennant."

"That's right," said the Babe, "We'll have our honeymoon on the ball field." Interesting.

The Yankees opener against the Red Sox was rained out, so the couple spent the day with the remainder of the bridal party at a theater.

1939: Joe Louis knocked out Jack Roper a little more than two minutes into the first round to retain his heavyweight boxing title. The Brown Bomber "toyed with the ancient studio electrician for a couple of minutes and then let him have a right on the chops that put him to sleep ...," according to United Press International.

1947: Jackie Robinson of the Brooklyn Dodgers bunted for a single — his first hit in the major leagues.

1969: For the Phillies, getting no-hit by the expansion Expos was a supreme embarrassment. For their former manager, Montreal's Gene Mauch, it was a highly satisfying return to Philadelphia, where he was fired by the team the previous season.

 "As clever as you guys are," Mauch told reporters after Bill Stoneman's no-no, "there isn't one of you here who could have written that script." Mauch managed the Phillies from 1960-68.

Soaking his right elbow in ice, Stoneman seemed strangely unaffected by his remarkable outing — the first complete game of his career.  "I wanted it for Gene," the 25-year-old said. "... I hope we beat them every time we come here."

1972: Speaking of Phillies flops, "Kiteman" narrowly averted disaster before the team's home opener at Veterans Stadium, a day after Philly was no-hit in Chicago by Burt Hooton.

Booked by Bill Giles, Philadelphia's vice president of business operations, "Kiteman" was to ski down a 100-foot-plus ramp high up in the stadium in center field, go airborne with his massive kite-like contraption and fly to home plate, where he was to deliver the ceremonial game ball to the Philadelphia mayor.

As he started his descent down the ramp, "Kiteman" seemed to have second thoughts. When he finally got going, a gust of wind kicked up, blowing the 33-year-old entertainer off course and into the outfield seats in the upper deck. Only bruised, Richie Johnson — "Kiteman" — tossed the ceremonial baseball into the Phillies bullpen.

Naturally, Philadelphia fans booed. "If I believed I would have landed in the seats," Johnson told a New Jersey newspaper, "I wouldn't have even tried it."

Wrote Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Frank Dolson: "In an all-out effort to take the public's mind off a game that has been on strike and a team that is rated 100-to-l in the National League East, Bill Giles started the new year with a combination Mummer's Day parade, circus, fireworks display and suicide attempt."

The woes of "Kiteman" were the first of many in 1972 for the Phillies, who finished 59-97, last in the NL East.

1976: The wind was blowing out at Wrigley Field, shrinking the proportions of the "friendly confines" to a telephone booth, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. And, boy, did Phillies third baseman Mike Schmidt take advantage.

Demoted to sixth in the order, Schmidt homered in the fifth, seventh, eighth and 10th innings in the Phillies' epic, 18-16 win. The last blast  — which tied the MLB record for most homers in a game by a player —provided the winning margin for Philadelphia, which trailed 12-1 and 13-2. The comeback was the greatest in National League history.

"Smitty never would have done it without me," said Phillies reliever Tug McGraw with a laugh. The lefty gave up two runs to the Cubs in the ninth, tying the score at 16.

"The last [homer] was the best swing for me," said Schmidt, a future Hall of Famer, "because I didn't try to be too fine."

1983:  At the London Marathon, 29-year-old Norwegian Grete Waitz equaled the women's world record with a time of two hours, 25 minutes, 29 seconds. "I had some problems with my knee and some stomach problems, but considering those two things I'm very happy about my time ...," she said.

1987: On a Cubs broadcast, Bill Murray filled in for Harry Caray, who was on the DL. Hilarity ensued. "This is the closest I’ve been to actually having decent seats at a Cubs game," said Murray from the broadcast booth.

1999: After the Browns drafted Kentucky QB Tim Couch with the first overall pick in the NFL Draft, the team unsurprisingly offered praise.

"The bottom line is Tim Couch has always been the guy, the leader, the one who rallied the troops," Browns director of football operations Dwight Clark said. "He set records in high school and college, and we expect him to try to set records here."

Well, the Browns being the Browns, Couch flopped. Playing behind an awful offensive line, he was sacked 56 times as a rookie. By 2003, he was out of the NFL.

Happy birthday... 

• Former NFL QB and current sports broadcaster Boomer Esiason, who played for the Bengals and Jets. (59). 
• Former Jaguars standout offensive tackle Tony Boselli, who starred in college at Southern Cal (48).

R.I.P.

1984: NHL winger Claude Provost, who played his entire 15-year career with the Montreal Canadiens, died of a heart attack at age 50. Provost won nine Stanley Cups, the most ever for a player not in the Hall of Fame, and was the recipient of the first-ever Bill Masterton Trophy, awarded for perseverance.

April 16: What a day for  Tom Brady, "Mr. Practice Squad."