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In Game 2 of a first-round playoff series against Larry Bird and the Celtics in 1986, Michael Jordan scored a playoff-record 63 points. Getty Images

April 20 in sports history: 'It's just God disguised as Michael Jordan'

By Yardbarker Staff | Last updated 4/19/20

Here's a look back at notable sports news on April 20 through the years.

1986: In a first-round playoff game against an all-time great Celtics team, the Bulls lost in two overtimes, 135-131, but Michael Jordan was magnificent in defeat. Weeks after returning from a foot injury that limited him to only 18 regular-season games, the Bulls' superstar scored a playoff-record 63 points.

The Celtics and Bulls were in awe.

"I would never have called him the greatest player I'd ever seen if I didn't mean it," Boston's Larry Bird told reporters afterward. "It's just God disguised as Michael Jordan."

"I was watching the game," Celtics coach K.C. Jones said, "and all I could see was this giant Jordan out there and everybody else in the background."

Thirty minutes after the game, the Bulls' Orlando Woolridge sat at his locker, staring at the stat sheet. "Wow," he said, slowly shaking his head. "Incredible."

Said Bulls coach Stan Albeck: "This has to be the greatest individual performance in playoff history."

Jordan's point total topped the previous record of 61, set by the Lakers' Elgin Baylor in 1962. Jordan's stat line: 53 minutes, 22-for-41 from the field, 19-for-21 from the free-throw line, six assists, three steals. (MJ still holds the scoring record for a playoff game.)

"I wanted to win the game so badly," Jordan told reporters, "that the points don't even dignify anything, don't even mean anything to me."

ALSO

1920: If your players can't do it, do it yourself.

With the Phillies and Giants scoreless in the eighth at the Polo Grounds in New York, Philadelphia manager Gavvy Cravath inserted himself into the game as a pinch-hitter. In his first at-bat of the season, the 39-year-old drove the first pitch into the right-field stands for a three-run homer.

Cravath was one of the top sluggers in MLB's Dead Ball era. In 1919, he led the National League with 12 homers in only 214 at-bats.

1939: In Boston's 2-0 loss at Yankee Stadium, 21-year-old Red Sox rookie Ted Williams doubled off starter Red Ruffing in the fourth inning for the first hit of his major-league career.

"Ted poled a slashing drive that caromed off the right center-field fence about 400 feet from where the drive originated," a Boston Globe reporter wrote. "It was good for a double and Ted's initial big-league wallop, and it would have given the Sox a run if [Joe] DiMaggio hadn't robbed [Jim] Tabor just one pitch previously."

In his Hall of Fame career, "Teddy Ballgame" finished with 2,654 hits.

1967: In New York on this date, another future Hall of Famer chalked up a first.

With the Mets' 6-1 win over the Cubs at Shea Stadium, New York rookie right-hander Tom Seaver earned the first victory of his 20-year career. Seaver was given the game ball by Don Shaw, who came on in relief in the eighth.

"Boy, that was nice to get that first one," Seaver told reporters, "It makes me think I can win some more."

Seaver finished the season 16-13 -- the first of his 18 seasons with double-digit wins -- and was named National League Rookie of the Year. He finished his career with a 311-205 record.

Coverage in the Baltimore Sun of the Orioles' record-breaking loss.

1988: With an 8-6 loss to the Brewers, the Orioles set a big-league record for losses to start a season with 14.

"In the joyless Orioles clubhouse," Baltimore Sun columnist Mike Littwin wrote, "no one wanted to accept the word embarrassment to describe the predicament, because to do so would imply the Orioles aren't trying. They are trying, desperately. Somehow, that makes the story all the sadder."

"In 30 years or so," Orioles catcher Terry Kennedy told the Sun, "some team will be creeping up on 12 or 13 losses in a row. And by that point, we'll be laughing. But we can't laugh now. This is definitely a downer."

Baltimore went on to lose seven more games before it ended the streak. The Orioles finished the season 54-107, 34.5 games behind the AL East champion Red Sox.

1990: In Oakland, Seattle right-hander Brian Holman lost his bid for a perfect game when pinch-hitter Ken Phelps homered with two out in the ninth. "He hit the you-know-what out of it," Holman said after the Mariners' 6-1 win.

1996 and 2002: The Jets' selection of flamboyant Southern Cal receiver Keyshawn Johnson with the No. 1 overall pick of the NFL Draft worked out well for them. The Houston Texans' selection of Fresno State QB David Carr with the top overall pick on the same date six years later ... ah.... not so much.

"For the first time in more than a quarter-century," wrote columnist Bill Pennington of The Hackensack (New Jersey) Record, "the Jets drafted personality and acquired identity. Something sparkled on the stage of the 1996 NFL Draft Saturday afternoon, and it wasn't just Keyshawn's diamond earring."

In four seasons with the Jets, Johnson had 4,108 yards receiving. In 2000, he was traded to Tampa Bay for two first-round draft picks.

Playing behind a historically awful line, Carr was sacked an NFL-record 76 times for 411 yards as a rookie. He had five mostly middling seasons in Houston. His last NFL season was with the Giants in 2012.

Happy birthday ...

Former Florida, South Carolina and Washington Redskins head coach Steve Spurrier, who won the Heisman Trophy in 1966. (75).
Former Dodgers and Marlins manager and Yankees star first baseman Don Mattingly. (59).

R.I.P.

2014: Former middleweight boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, whose murder convictions were overturned after he spent 19 years in prison, died of cancer. He was 76.

April 19: Rubbing it in? Rangers 26, Orioles 7

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