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Cubs outfielder Rick Monday rescues the American flag during a game at Dodger Stadium in 1976 Getty Images

April 25 in sports history: Monday to rescue on 'Flag Day'

By Yardbarker Staff | Last updated 4/23/20

Here's a look back at notable sports news on April 25 through the years.

1976: It might be the most memorable moment of Rick Monday's 19-year career in the big leagues.

Sprinting from center field in between innings, the Cubs outfielder rescued the American flag from two trespassers who tried to set it on fire on the field at Dodger Stadium.

"I was going to bulldoze the guy, but I saw the flag on the ground and saw him reaching in his pocket for the lighter fluid," Monday told reporters the game. "I realized that without the flag he's just left there holding his hand, so I grabbed it."

Monday, who served six years in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves, received a standing ovation from the crowd of about 25,000. The scoreboard flashed: "Rick Monday ... you made a great play."

"The way people reacted was fantastic," Monday told the Los Angeles Times afterward, "but I felt they were cheering for what the flag meant."

The two trespassers "were led docilely" from the field by law enforcement, according to report from The Associated Press.

At a ceremony at Wrigley Field the next month, Monday was given the rescued flag by the Dodgers.

"This was a flag that people looked at with respect," Monday told MLB.com on the 30th anniversary of the flag rescue. "We have a lot of rights and freedoms — not to sound corny — but we all have the option if we don't like something to make it better. Or you also have the option, if you don't like it, [to] pack up and leave. But don't come onto the field and burn an American flag."

BASEBALL CRAZINESS

1901: Trailing 13-4 in the bottom of the ninth, Detroit scored 10 runs to beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 14-13, in the Tigers new ballyard, Bennett Park. Nearly 10,000 fans celebrated after Pop Dillon drove in the winning run.

"...pandemonium broke loose when he made his last hit," the Detroit Free-Press reported. "The crowd surged out onto the field, and everybody wanted to pat the hero on the back. The big first baseman was almost torn to pieces by the fans, and finally he was picked up and carried around on the shoulders of some of the excited spectators."

A 1907 view of Bennett Park, where the Tigers pulled off their improbable 1901 comeback. Library of Congress

1933: In his debut with the Yankees, a 16-0 win over Washington, rookie Russ Van Atta beat the Senators with his arm and bat. He allowed only five hits in pitching a complete game and went 4-for-4 with an RBI. Van Atta's performance was overshadowed by a huge brawl between the teams — one of the "most violent disturbances seen on a major league baseball field in years," according to a newspaper account.

1980: In his first game back in Minnesota since he had a fight with a marshmallow salesman in a hotel bar in Minneapolis the previous year, combative A's manager Billy Martin had to be restrained by umpires and players from going into the stands after a fan. To goad Martin, the spectator near the dugout tossed marshmallows at him. The 1979 marshmallow incident cost Martin his job as Yankees manager.

"He did it once and then went and hid like a baby," Martin said of the marshmallow tosser. "But my coach caught him the second time and the police got him. I hope they fine him."

1981: A year later, Martin got his man, Mariners manager Maury Wills.

Oakland's manager accused Seattle of laying out an illegal batter's box, a foot closer to the pitcher's mound, in an apparent attempt to help its hitters against the curve ball. The Seattle grounds crew was ordered to re-draw the box.

"I wanted to help my kids," Wills later admitted. MLB suspended him two games for the batter's box shenanigans.

"I caught them cheating," Martin said. "How about that?"

ALSO

1950: Chuck Cooper, an All-American from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, playing with the Harlem Globetrotters, became the first African-American selected in the NBA Draft. Cooper, picked in the second round by the Celtics, averaged 9.3 points for Boston in his rookie season. Years later, he called his pioneering status a "dubious achievement."

Two months after he was drafted in the NBA, the league added two more black players.

"So you see, I wasn't alone, didn't have to take the race-baiting and heat all on my shoulders like Jackie Robinson" Cooper said, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "Besides any black coming in after Jackie, in any sport, had it easy compared to the turmoil he lived through."

1964: Toronto won its third straight Stanley Cup with a 4-0 victory in Game 7 over Detroit. The Maple Leafs won the Cup again in 1967, but they haven't been back to the Final since.

1974: The NFL adopted the 15-minute, sudden-death overtime to avoid ties. Seven games ended in ties the previous season. The league also moved the goal posts to the back of the end zone.

1995: Major League Baseball returned after a 257-day layoff. The players had gone on strike the previous season. One sportswriter was confident fans would return. "Football may be noisier, basketball faster, boxing bloodier, but baseball remains our national pastime," columnist Claude Lewis wrote. "Real baseball fans — unlike baseball players and owners — don’t carry season-long grudges. Their commitment to the game is without end."

2005: Sean Bradley was defenseless against the Rockets Tracy McGrady, who "sucked the gravity right out of the building" with a tomahawk slam over Dallas' defenseless 7-foot-6 center. Bradley relatives may want to avert their eyes on this one — immortalized forever on YouTube. The Rockets won the first-round playoff game, 113-110, to take a 2-0 lead in a series they lost in seven games.

2006: Dolphins running back Ricky Williams was suspended for the season by the NFL for violating the league’s substance abuse policy for the fourth time. "... we are disappointed in what it means for Ricky and the team," said Miami coach Nick Saban.

Happy birthday...

Golfer Christa Johnson, who won the Women's PGA Championship in 1997 (62).
NBA commissioner Adam Silver (58).
FOX sportscaster Joe Buck (51).
Former Spurs star and current San Antonio assistant coach Tim Duncan (44).

R.I.P.

2014: Former NFL QB Earl Morrall, who led the Colts to a win in Super Bowl V after replacing an injured Johnny Unitas, died of complications from Parkinson's disease at 79.

2019: Former Celtics star and eight-time NBA champ John Havlicek, a Basketball Hall of Famer, died of Parkinson's disease at 79.

April 24: Eli Manning a 'steal' by Giants in draft

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