Soccer in 1974

[EDIT 6/22/2015: Making the apostrophes normal ones]
[EDIT 6/12/2018: Changing letters with diacritical marks for formatting reasons]

I figured out earlier this year that some USA players' dreams of playing in Maracana, that prestigious stadium in Rio, are unlikely to be fulfilled because we've got Germany and Portugal. Well, 40 years ago, the Yanks had known for quite a while that they wouldn't play in the World Cup at all because Mexico swept them and Canada in the summer of '72.

And recently, a certain club lost a championship they'd also failed to win 40 years ago. If you don't know which one, you'll find out here.

1974: THE YEAR IN SOCCER

West Germany, the home team in the World Cup, wins the final at Munich 2-1 against the Netherlands. Gerd Mueller's 43rd-minute goal is the winner. The West Germans are the first recipients of the new World Cup trophy.

West Germany loses its group match against East Germany 1-0, though both teams would have qualified for the next round win, lose, or draw. East Germany draws once and loses twice in a difficult group. West Germany, on the other hand, wins all the matches in its group and qualifies for the final.

The leading scorer in the World Cup is Grzegorz Lato of Poland with 9 goals. Mueller, with four goals in the finals, reaches 14 in his World Cup career, and Jairzinho of Brazil has 9 in his World Cup career. Those goals bring Mueller's total to 68 in 62 international matches.

This is the lowest-scoring World Cup until 1986, with 2.55 goals per match.

Johan Cruyff, the Dutch legend, is named European Player of the Year, receiving the Ballon d'Or ("Golden Ball") from France Football. He's also the winner of the World Cup MVP award. Cruyff helps Barcelona win the Spanish league championship, as does Dutch national manager Rinus Michels.

Sometime this year, Italian goalkeeper Dino Zoff concedes a goal in an international match for the first time since Sept. of 1972. The clean sheet of 1,142 minutes is a record for internationals.

This is star defender and West German captain Franz Beckenbauer's last World Cup, but he will continue playing for Bayern Munich for a couple of years and for the national team until 1977. Beckenbauer finishes a close second to Cruyff in the voting for the Ballon d'Or, and no one else is even in the neighborhood.

Bayern Munich wins the European Champions' Cup, and they're the first German club to do so. In the final at Heysel Stadium in Brussels May 15, attended by 65,000, Bayern draws with Atletico Madrid 1-1, but the replay two days later, with only 20,000 on hand, is a 4-0 victory. Both goals in the first match are scored in extra time. Mueller scores two of Bayern's four goals in the replay, and Uli Hoeness the other two.

Feyenoord, a Dutch club, wins the UEFA Cup (a "best of the rest" tournament for clubs that didn't win a league championship or a national cup) by defeating England's Tottenham Hotspur 4-2 in a two-leg final.

At the European Cup-Winners' Cup, East Germany's Magdeburg defeats Italy's AC Milan 2-0. Normally, Cup-Winners' Cup winners play Champions Cup winners in the Super Cup, but being from different sides of Germany and not agreeing on dates, Bayern and Magdeburg end up not playing.

It takes three games, but Independiente, an Argentine club, wins the Copa Libertadores (South American club championship) for the third of four consecutive years. They score three goals to Sao Paulo's two in the first two matches, but both had won a leg, and their aggregate points are equal, so a playoff is forced Oct. 19 in Santiago, Chile.

Like many other European Cup winners of the '70s, Bayern elects not to play the Intercontinental Cup against Independiente. Runner-up Atletico will play the South American champions in March and April of '75.

Zaire wins the African Cup of Nations. Their final against Zambia is a 2-2 tie, but they win the replay 2-0. The match is held in Cairo soon after a disaster at local club Zamalek's stadium kills 49. There is no league or cup championship awarded that year in Egypt.

Israel makes it to the final of the Asian Games soccer tournament in Tehran, only to be defeated by their Iranian hosts 1-0. In the second group phase, North Korea and Kuwait refused to play Israel, and they got their place in the final with those forfeits and a 3-0 win over Burma. The next year the country will be kicked out of the Asian Football Confederation because so many teams refused to play them over the years.

English manager Alf Ramsey finishes his 11-year career with the national team with a record of 69 wins, 27 draws, and 17 losses, including a World Cup championship in '66. The team having failed to qualify for this year's World Cup, it is announced this spring that he will be let go.

Leeds United wins the Football League in England, while last year's champions, Liverpool, win the FA Cup. In Italy, Lazio wins Serie A (their country's top league). In West Germany, Bayern wins its third consecutive Bundesliga title.

Cruz Azul wins its third Mexican Primera Division championship in a row, but America defeats them in the Copa Mexico final. Both teams are located in Mexico City, although Cruz Azul moved there from a short drive outside a few years before.

In the NASL, the Los Angeles Aztecs defeat the Miami Toros in the championship game after a 3-3 match goes to a shootout. The league's leading scorer is Paul Child of the San Jose Earthquakes with 15 goals and 6 assists (36 points). The league MVP is Peter Silvester of the Baltimore Comets.

This is the first season for eight NASL clubs, including the Aztecs, the Earthquakes, the Seattle Sounders, and the Vancouver Whitecaps.

On June 2, Greek American of New York defeats Chicago Croatia 2-0 to win the US Open Cup.

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum hosts a friendly tournament in August, one that features two Mexican clubs, a European squad, and a South American team. Brazilian championship runners-up Cruzeiro defeat Cruz Azul 3-2 for third place, while Portuguese league and cup runners-up Benfica beat America with the same score for the championship.

In his last season with his home club, Santos, Pele scores 10 goals in 27 appearances, making his club total 643 tallies in 656 matches. He puts 14 in the net over 49 friendlies, making his total including friendlies 1,087 goals in 1,120 matches.

In the NCAA championship, Howard defeats St. Louis 2-1 after four overtime periods to topple the college soccer dynasty.

Besides being a new member of the UN this year, Bangladesh is also now affiliated with FIFA. Liechtenstein also joins FIFA this year, but it will not join the UN until 1990.

More on soccer at RSSSF
A piece about Beckenbauer's role in his country's World Cup success from Beyond the Last Man
A piece on Cruyff's season with club and national teams from Football Espana
All of Dino Zoff's appearances, including the 12 straight in which he shut out the opposition, from RSSSF

COMING IN JULY: A look at college football in the '74 season, including the only double Heisman winner, the divided nature of the national championship, and an NFL legend's college career.

Boxing, Tennis, the WFL, and More in 1974

[EDIT 6/22/2015: Fixing apostrophes]
[EDIT 6/12/2018: Modifying characters that don't show up right in some kinds of formatting, correcting typo in the second Merckx item]

Sorry for the delay. I'll add more links soon, and maybe add cricket and such to the list of odds and ends.

TENNIS

The best of the men is Jimmy Connors, who has won three of the four majors. This is one of ten times so far that one man has won three or more Grand Slam singles titles.

The French Open champion is 18-year-old Bjorn Borg, with his first of six titles at Roland Garros and his first of eleven Grand Slam titles.

Chris Evert wins the French Open and the title at Wimbledon, and these are the first of what will be 18 Grand Slam singles titles. At one point winning 55 consecutive matches and setting a record that will stand for a decade, Evert is the AP Female Athlete of the Year.

Evonne Goolagong wins the Australian Open, while Billie Jean King adds a fourth US Open title.

Connors and Evert winning their respective titles at Wimbledon is noteworthy because the two are engaged at the time, although the planned November wedding does not come to fruition.

Connors is the annual men's #1 for the first of five times, and King is the women's #1 for the last of five times. Connors's first time at the weekly #1 is July 29, and he will stay there for 160 consecutive weeks. The last time Ilie Nastase is #1 is the week of June 2 (40 weeks total), while John Newcombe's eight-week reign starts June 9 and ends when Connors takes over.

India refuses to play South Africa at the Davis Cup final, so the nation that's dead to the world wins by default.

Australia wins the Federation Cup, the women's equivalent of the Davis Cup, by defeating the United States in the final.

Guillermo Vilas defeats Nastase at the final of the Tennis Masters Cup. Goolagong beats Evert at the WTA Championship.

Newcombe now has three singles titles and six doubles titles at Wimbledon. The doubles championship with Tony Roche this year is the fifth and last for the pair. By 1976, Newcombe and Roche will have a record 16 titles in Grand Slam doubles events.

Goolagong and Peggy Michel win women's doubles in Australia and England, Evert and Olga Morozova win in France, and King and Rosemary Casals win in the U.S.

While Evert's star is rising, another star is born. Martina Navratilova wins her first singles title in Orlando, and she also gets her first taste of Grand Slam glory in the French Open mixed doubles tournament, which she and Ivan Molina of Colombia win.

BOXING

Muhammad Ali (216 1/2 pounds, 32 years old) is once again world champion after knocking out George Foreman (220 pounds, 26 years old) in the eighth round at Kinshasa Oct. 30. Ali uses the "rope-a-dope" strategy, wherein he lies on the ropes and takes blows, bringing Foreman to keep punching and get tired. The "Rumble in the Jungle" is Don King's first big promotion, and it's the Fight of the Year as selected by Ring Magazine, which names Ali Fighter of the Year.

Before all that, Foreman (224 3/4 pounds, 25 years old) defends his title March 26 at Caracas by TKOing Ken Norton (212 1/4 pounds, 30 years old) in two rounds.

Ali's second match against Joe Frazier, Jan. 28 in New York, ends in 12 rounds with Ali winning by unanimous decision.

The AP and the UPI both name Ali Male Athlete of the Year, Sports Illustrated names him Sportsman of the Year, and he also wins the Hickok Belt (a professional sports award given every year from 1950-1976). The Sporting News, however, chooses Lou Brock instead.

Roberto Duran is in the process of setting a lightweight title defenses record. Among his twelve from 1972 to 1979 are an eleventh-round knockout delivered to Esteban de Jesus March 16 and a first-round kayo on Masataka Takayama Dec. 21.

Carlos Monzon is also in the middle of a record-setting run of 14 title defenses as a middleweight (1970-1977) as he defeats Jose Napoles in the sixth round Feb. 9 and knocks out Tony Mundine in the seventh round Oct. 4. His wife shot him in the leg in '73.

WORLD FOOTBALL LEAGUE

The WFL is formed for the 1974 season with twelve teams. The regular season is 20 games from July to November, and there are no preseason exhibition games in this first season. In "World Bowl I," held Dec. 5 at Legion Field, the Birmingham Americans win 22-21 against the visiting Florida Blazers.

In this league, touchdowns are worth seven points, and the PAT, or "action point," has to be run or passed. Also, regular-season games as well as playoff games can go to overtime.

The three MVPs of the WFL are Southern California Sun quarterback Tony Adams, Memphis Southmen running back J.J. Jennings, and Blazers running back Tommy Reamon. Only Reamon will play in the NFL.

During the season, the New York Stars become the Charlotte Hornets, and the Houston Texans become the Shreveport Steamer. The Detroit Wheels (1-13) and Jacksonville Sharks (3-11) cease to play after 14 games, although the Wheels would be back in '75.

The Southmen are originally to be the Toronto Northmen, but the Canadian government rejects that idea.

In one draft, teams select players from college, while another involves NFL and CFL players. Sixteen NFL players and a CFL player jump from their leagues to the WFL in the first season.

The Texans select USC star Lynn Swann with the 24th pick in the college draft, but of course, he doesn't sign.

Among the players picked in the pro draft: Raiders QB Ken Stabler, Jets QB Joe Namath, Chargers QB Dan Fouts, Rams DE Jack Youngblood, Raiders DB Jack Tatum, Steelers DT Joe Greene, and Vikings OT Ron Yary. The second overall pick is Dolphins FB Larry Csonka, whom the Southmen will sign the next season.

The man behind this league is Gary L. Davidson, who was also one of the fathers of the ABA and the WHA. The WFL will not survive an entire 1975 season, so the rule of threes does not quite apply here.

OTHER

Future NFL coach Marv Levy is coach of the Canadian Football League's Montreal Alouettes. He wins the Grey Cup for the first time in 1974, as his Alouettes defeat the Edmonton Eskimos 20-7 in Vancouver.

Evel Knievel makes three appearances on Wide World of Sports. He successfully jumps eleven Mack trucks, then thirteen Mack trucks, but crashes trying to jump over the Snake River Canyon.

Speaking of Wide World of Sports, that program wins the Emmy in its category for '73-74 and will win in the Edited Program division of sports for '74-75.

Kyle Rote, Jr. of the NASL's Dallas Tornado wins the second annual Superstars multi-sport competition on ABC. This is the first year the obstacle course is used.

Jim McKay wins his fourth Emmy for Outstanding Host/Commentator, while Keith Jackson wins his third of five National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association awards for sportscaster of the year.

Dorothy Hamill wins her first of three US figure skating championships.

Melissa Militano and new partner Johnny Johns win their first of two US titles in pairs figure skating. She had won a title with her brother Mark the previous year.

At the World Figure Skating Championships, Irina Rodnina and Aleksandr Zaytsev win their second of six pairs titles together; this is the sixth of ten for Rodnina. At those same championships, Lyudmila Pakhomova and Aleksandr Gorshkov win their fifth consecutive ice-dancing crown.

Eddy Merckx wins the Tour de France for the fifth time, tying Jacques Anquetil's record. He finishes the 4098-km route (about 2,546 miles) in 116 hours, 16 minutes, and 58 seconds. The Belgian cyclist has also won five Tours of Italy and a Tour of Spain, giving him a total of eleven victories among those three events, a record not equaled. Merckx has worn the yellow jersey for a record 111 days, also not equaled.

Merckx wins the Tour of Italy for the fifth time this year and joins a club whose membership otherwise consists of only Alfredo Binda and Alfredo Coppi. He's also the third three-time winner of the UCI Road World Championship, the other two being Binda and Rik van Steenbergen.

In rugby, Ireland has sole possession of the Five Nations championship for the first time since 1951. All five nations tied for the championship in '73.

Romania wins the men's team handball world championship for the fourth time, a record no one else will reach until 1999.

Earl Anthony earns many bowling honors for the first time: winner at the PBA National Championship, winner at the Firestone Tournament of Champions, money leader, and Bowler of the Year.

Bobby Fischer, eight-time US chess champion (1958-1966), continues his reign as world champion (1972-1975).
ADDITION 6/1/2014: Fischer briefly gives up the championship in June due to a difference of opinion in how his title defense match should go. In November, he plays against Anatoly Karpov to remain champion. In '75, Karpov will be awarded the title when Fischer doesn't show up. But Fischer makes chess popular enough for a book called How to Beat Bobby Fischer, published in 1974.

In Mexico City, the Polish team wins the men's volleyball world championship, defeating the Soviet Union in the final, while the reigning Olympic champion Japanese team finishes third. In Guadalajara, Japan's women defeat the Soviets, also reigning Olympic champions, for the world title.

Winston is the first commercial sponsor of a beach volleyball tournament; the event is held in San Diego.

France wins its seventh freshwater fishing championship.

On August 1, Peter Gulgin catches a three-pound rock bass in Ontario's York River. The record catch for that type of fish will be tied in 1998.

Tommy Martin, with a total of 33 pounds and 7 ounces of bass caught, wins the BASS Masters Classic.

In rodeo, Tom Ferguson begins a six-year string of All-Around Champion Cowboy titles.

Eleven-year-old Curt Yarborough of Elk Grove, California, wins the All-American Soap Box Derby; Bret Yarborough had done so the year before, when he was 11.

Toshimitsu Ogata, going by the ring name Kitanoumi, reaches the highest rank in sumo in July at the age of 21 years and 61 days. For decades, he is the youngest yokozuna.

With Ted Hood as skipper, Courageous defeats the Australian yacht Southern Cross 4-0 for the America's Cup. That boat will win the Cup again in 1977 with Ted Turner as skipper.

The Women's Sports Foundation is established.

The Track and Field Hall of Fame is founded. Its first class includes Babe Didrikson, Ray Ewry, Rafer Johnson, Bob Mathias, Al Oerter, Jesse Owens, and Wilma Rudolph.

The USOC launches its Athlete of the Year awards.

UPI also launches Athlete of the Year awards. The female winner is Irina Szewinska of track and field.

At the Bislett Games in Oslo, Rick Wohlhuter runs 1000m in 2 minutes and 13.9 seconds, a world record for now and still a U.S. record for this event that isn't run often. Wohlhuter wins the James E. Sullivan Memorial Award for best amateur athlete.

In Knoxville, Ivory Crockett sets a world record in the hundred-yard dash May 11 with an even nine seconds.

Neil Cusack of Ireland wins the Boston Marathon with a time of 2:13:39. Miki Gorman is the third women's champion with the first time under 3 hours for a woman, 2:47:11.

East German Reinhard Theimer throws a hammer 251'3" on July 4, beating the world record – held by West German Walter Schmidt since 1971 – by 8 inches. Soviet Aleksey Spiridonov breaks this new record Sept. 11 by 2 1/4 inches.

In power boat racing, George Henley drives Pay 'N Pak to the APBA Gold Cup, and will do so again next year.

At the World Gymnastics Championships, the all-around winners are Shigeru Kasamatsu (also the winner for floor exercise and vault) and Ludmilla Tourischeva (also the winner for floor exercise and balance beam). In between Olympic triumphs, Olga Korbut wins the vault at the world championships.

Johns Hopkins University wins its first of many NCAA lacrosse championships.

The Wisconsin Badgers win the Intercollegiate Rowing Association Varsity Eights for the second of three times in a row. They cover 2,000 meters in 6 minutes and 33 seconds.

USC snaps Indiana's six-year streak as NCAA swimming champions.

The college tennis champions are Stanford. The individual champion is Stanford's John Whitlinger.

Gustavo Thoeni reaches nine events won in his career in the Alpine Skiing World Cup, which is a record at the time. Fellow Italian Piero Gros wins the Alpine World Cup season title, which Thoeni won in the three years before and will win in '75.

Also in alpine skiing, Ingemar Stenmark wins his first of what will be 86 slalom and giant slalom races, and Franz Klammer wins his first of what will be 25 World Cup downhill races.

The women's winner of the Alpine World Cup for the fourth of five times in a row is Annemarie Moser-Proell. In January, she also wins her eleventh consecutive downhill race.

Magglio Ordonez is born Jan. 28 in Caracas, Venezuela.

Steve Nash is born Feb. 7 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Seattle Slew is foaled Feb. 15 in Ravenna, Texas.

Bobby Abreu is born March 11 in Aragua, Venezuela.

Dave Mirra is born April 4 in Chittenango, New York.

Danny Way, future pro skateboarder, is born April 15 in Portland, Oregon.

Hideki Matsui is born June 12 in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan.

Derek Jeter is born June 26 in Pequannock, New Jersey.

Maurice Greene, future Olympic sprinting champion, is born July 23 in Kansas City, Kansas.

Krisztine Egerszegi, future Olympic champion swimmer, is born August 16 in Budapest, Hungary.

Hicham El Guerrouj, future mile runner, is born Sept. 14 in Berkane, Morocco.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is born Oct. 10 in Concord, North Carolina.

Paul Kariya is born Oct. 16 in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Karrie Webb is born Dec. 21 in Ayr, Queensland, Australia.

On March 3, English rugby fans are among those killed on a flight from Paris to London that crashes right after takeoff. With 346 deaths, it is for three years the crash with the most deaths ever.

World Football League fan site
These boxers and others on BoxRec.com
Volleyball World Championships results on Volleyball.org
Hammer throw world record progression on HammerThrow.eu
The Rumble in the Jungle, according to History
Rumble in the Jungle photos on the Sports Illustrated site
Bios of Jimmy Connors and Chris Evert on ESPN SportsCentury
Eddy Merckx bio on CyclingHallOfFame.com, a fan site
A whole website dedicated to the Snake River Canyon jump
Knievel jump photo at Sports Illustrated
Rick Wohlhuter bio at US Track & Field
Bobby Fischer as SI described him

COMING IN JUNE: The world of soccer 40 years ago, including the World Cup

Golf, Horse Racing, and Auto Racing in 1974

[EDIT 11/30/2023, 2:11 p.m.: Adding NASCAR label]

Sorry for the lack of posts in April. I hope I can get back into this. And you know, as I search for links to use, I'm discovering more things about the year in sports.

GOLF

For one year, Johnny Miller, who wins the Bing Crosby National Pro-Am, is the #1 golfer in America instead of Jack Nicklaus. He is the money leader with over $350,000, interrupting what would have been a six-year streak for Nicklaus. Miller also interrupts what would have been a five-year streak of PGA Tour Player of the Year awards for Nicklaus.

Gary Player wins the Masters and the Open Championship, the latter at Royal Lytham. This Masters championship is his second; the first was in 1961.

Hale Irwin wins the US Open at Winged Foot. This is his first major victory.

Lee Trevino wins the PGA Championship at Tanglewood. He also finishes the season with his fourth and last Vardon Trophy for best scoring average.

Nicklaus finishes one stroke behind Trevino at the PGA Championship, an event Jack had won the year before. Though he doesn't win a major, he has a busy year. Nicklaus wins the first Tournament Players Championship, is among the first class inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame, gets Golf My Way published, and opens Muirfield Village Golf Club.

Sam Snead, 61, finishes third at the PGA Championship.

Peter Oosterhuis, who finishes second to Player by four strokes at the Open, is the money leader on the European Tour.

Deane Beman is the first PGA Tour commissioner.

Jerry Pate wins the US Amateur. He will win the '76 US Open.

Future pro Curtis Strange of Wake Forest wins the NCAA individual title.

JoAnne Carner is the LPGA Tour money leader and the winner of the Vare Trophy (female counterpart to the Vardon Trophy). Sandra Haynie, however, wins the US Women's Open and the LPGA Championship.

On Sept. 25 at the U.S. National Seniors Open Championship in Las Vegas, 64-year-old Mike Austin sets a record by driving a ball 515 yards. The 35-mph tailwind helps.

HORSE RACING

After finishing fifth at the Kentucky Derby, Little Current, with Jacinto Vasquez as jockey, wins the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes. Cannonade, with Miguel Rivera as jockey, wins the Derby, which has an all-time high attendance of 163,628 and an all-time high field of 23 horses the year after Secretariat's historic run. Cannonade shows at the other two Triple Crown races.

The money leader among horses is a three-year-old filly named Chris Evert. Unlike her namesake, she doesn't win any major events. She does win five out of her eleven races.

Though Laffit Pincay Jr. rides neither of the Triple Crown winners, he is the money leader for a fifth consecutive year. Though Pancho Martin trains neither of the Triple Crown winners, he is the money leader.

In the Eclipse Awards, the Horse of the Year for the first of three times is a four-year-old named Forego. The Two-Year-Old Male of the Year is Foolish Pleasure, who will win the '75 Kentucky Derby.

At Delaware Park July 28, all ten of the horses Charles Lamb of the Baltimore News-American predicted as winners win.

In foreign races for three-year old thoroughbreds, Harry White wins his first of a record four times at the VRC Melbourne Cup and Yves Saint-Martin wins his second of four times at the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

In harness racing, Billy Haughton wins the Hambletonian with Christopher T and the Little Brown Jug with Ambro Omaha. With Ambro Omaha, he also wins his fifth Messenger Stakes.

A horse named Gran Kan is voted steeplechase champion.

MOTORSPORTS

Richard Petty wins the Daytona 500 for the fifth time. The race is 450 miles this year due to the energy crisis, and this year's total of 59 lead changes is a record. Petty goes on to win the Winston Cup for the fifth time as well.

David Pearson wins both the Winston 500 (Talladega) and the World 600 (Charlotte) from the pole. Cale Yarborough wins the Southern 500 in Darlington.

Johnny Rutherford wins the Indianapolis 500, having started in the twenty-fifth position. He has three other victories this year. Thirteen of the 33 cars are still running at the end of it all. A.J. Foyt gets the pole at the big race, while future pole-sitter Pancho Carter is named the 500's Rookie of the Year.

Bobby Unser, with four victories and twelve top-five finishes in total, wins his second USAC championship.

McLaren-Ford's Emerson Fittipaldi, winner of the Brazilian, Belgian, and Canadian Grand Prix races, wins his second Formula 1 championship. This year is his first with McLaren.

At the Spanish Grand Prix, Ferrari driver Niki Lauda gets the first of what will be 25 career Formula 1 victories.

Carlos Reutemann wins the U.S. Grand Prix Oct. 6 at Watkins Glen.

Bob Gladden wins his first of what will be ten NHRA Pro Stock titles.

Henri Pescarolo and Gerard Larrousse, the team that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in '73, repeat as champions. The 24 Hours of Daytona event is not held, also because of the energy crisis.

Johnny Miller bio on about.com
The '74 PGA Championship, also on about.com
Gary Player's Masters win as told on the Masters Web site
Young golfers in '74 as examined by Sports Illustrated
Jack Nicklaus at the '74 US Open in a story the "Golden Bear" recounts 32 years later in SI
The 515-yard drive on travelandleisure.com
The Kentucky Derby and the precedent it set from The Augusta Chronicle
Indy 500 results, or so the official site has it
The 450-mile Daytona 500 from Racing History Minute
Formula 1 in 1974 from formula1.com

LATER THIS MONTH: A short-lived romance between tennis players, a short-lived football league, and a long-remembered fight between two boxing greats

Baseball: The 1974 Season

[EDIT 6/22/2015: Making apostrophes better]
[EDIT 6/12/2018: Changing how a fraction is expressed to avoid garble]
[EDIT 3/25/2019: Correcting a mistake in the Hank Aaron item]

[EDIT 2/4/2023 9:46 a.m.: Finally got around to that Portland Mavericks mistake]

[EDIT 6/20/2023 7:08 p.m.: Realized I had the wrong Washington the whole time; it's Herb, not Ron]

Okay, now we're getting into a sport that's in my wheelhouse, which means that I'll have much more content for this sport than for the others. I was going to post this in April, but I moved it to March so there'd be more time to celebrate the first item on this list. Enjoy.

Most people were certain that at least one major moment in sport would happen this year. Hank Aaron hits his 715th home run April 8, breaking Babe Ruth's long-standing record. He had finished 1973 one short of 714, but ties the record in his first at-bat of the season in Cincinnati April 4. The big one comes at the Atlanta Braves' first home game of the season. The Braves wanted him to skip that road series, but no way, says Commissioner Bowie Kuhn. Aaron hits 20 homers this season, including one on his last at-bat with the Braves Oct. 2. This is also his twentieth consecutive season with 20 or more. And it has to be mentioned: the pitcher of number 715 was Al Downing of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Oakland A's win their third World Series championship in a row, despite their lack of .300 hitters and the resignation of manager Dick Williams. The Dodgers are on the losing side of this series, winning one game; the '72 Mets and '73 Reds each won three games against the A's. Rollie Fingers is the MVP of this Fall Classic.

Nolan Ryan pitches his third no-hitter Sept. 28; it is a 4-0 victory against the Minnesota Twins at Anaheim Stadium. Ryan's 367 strikeouts are his second-best mark for a season; he had a record 383 the year before. He now has 1,572 career K's, including 1,079 in three years with the California Angels. Ryan also allows 202 walks this season, so far second only to Bob Feller's 208 in 1938. He breaks one of Feller's records when his fastball is clocked on the radar at 100.9 miles per hour.

In other no-hitters of '74, Steve Busby of the Kansas City Royals blanks the hosting Milwaukee Brewers 2-0 June 19, and Dick Bosman of the Cleveland Indians manages to silence the A's 4-0 at Cleveland Stadium July 19.

The National League continues its All-Star dominance July 23 in Pittsburgh with a 7-2 win.

Yankee Stadium is under construction, so the New York Yankees play this season and the next at Shea Stadium.

The Pittsburgh Pirates win the NL East title with a come-from-behind victory over the Chicago Cubs Oct. 2, which puts them 1 1/2 games ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals. The Pirates are the second team since 1969 to win their division after being 12 games or more under .500 sometime in the season; last year's Mets were the first.

All four divisions have tight races; the Baltimore Orioles finish two games ahead of the Yankees in the AL East, but only after a 28-6 run to finish. The Dodgers finish four games ahead of the Cincinnati Reds, and the Texas Rangers end up just five behind the A's.

Walter Alston wins his seventh and last pennant in 20 years as the Dodgers beat the Pirates 3-1 in the NL Championship Series. The A's defeat the Orioles 3-1 to earn manager Al Dark his first and only pennant.

With 36 round-trippers, Mike Schmidt of the Philadelphia Phillies leads the National League in home runs for the first of eight times. Schmidt also has 118 RBI and bats .282. He makes his All-Star Game debut by entering as a pinch hitter, walking in his first plate appearance, staying in as third baseman, and scoring a run after being walked again.

Lou Brock of the Cardinals steals a record 118 bases in his last season leading the NL in swiped bags. He has won the title eight times in nine years. He reaches 700 for his career on June 29 and ends up with 753. Over the course of the season, he passes Honus Wagner, Max Carey, and Eddie Collins, and only Ty Cobb has more career stolen bases (no, Billy Hamilton doesn't count). The Sporting News names Brock Sportsman of the Year, despite most other such awards going to Muhammad Ali.

Rod Carew of the Twins is the American League batting champion with a .364 average.

Gold Glove winner Steve Garvey of the Dodgers and AL RBI leader Jeff Burroughs of the Rangers (with 118) are the MVPs of their respective leagues. Garvey is also the All-Star Game MVP, going 2 for 4 with a run and an RBI.

The Rookies of the Year are Bake McBride of the Cardinals and Mike Hargrove of the Rangers.

Dick Allen of the Chicago White Sox, despite leading the league with 32 home runs, "retires." He will be back next season, going from the Sox to the Braves Dec. 3.

The infamous 10-Cent Beer Night promotion June 4 in Cleveland results in fans going onto the field, throwing things, streaking, and assaulting the visiting Rangers. The potential winning run for the Indians is on base when umpire Nestor Chylak declares the Rangers winners by forfeit. This is one of four games to be forfeited in the '70s.

Aaron may get the headlines, but his teammate Ralph Garr leads the NL in batting average with .353, and Bruce Capra, another Brave, has a league-best ERA of 2.28.

NL saves leader Mike Marshall of the Dodgers wins the NL Cy Young Award, and he appears in a record 106 games.

Oakland's Catfish Hunter wins the Cy Young for the AL; he has the best ERA in the league with 2.49, and his record is 25-12.

Johnny Bench of the Reds hits 33 home runs to bring his total to 212. His league-leading 129 RBI bring his career total to 745. Bench also wins the seventh of his ten Gold Gloves.

On Sept. 25, Yankees pitcher Tommy John gets the unprecedented tendon transplant surgery that now bears his name. 

Herb Washington, "designated runner," steals 29 bases in 92 games for the A's. Another Oakland player, Bill North, leads the AL in stolen bases with 54.

Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, and "Cool Papa" Bell are among the newest members of the Hall of Fame.

Ray Kroc buys the San Diego Padres and prevents them from possibly moving to Washington.

The Padres' selection as the #1 pick in the Amateur Draft, Bill Almon of Brown University, is the only Ivy League man to be a #1 pick in MLB, and will be for at least 40 years.

This is a good year to start an MLB career on a high note. Benny Ayala of the New York Mets (August 27), Reggie Sanders of the Detroit Tigers (Sept. 1), and John Montefusco of the San Francisco Giants (Sept. 3) all hit home runs in their respective first at-bats in the big leagues.

On June 10, Schmidt hits a ball that would have gone on to be a homer in any park other than the Astrodome; it hits a speaker for a single.

Bill Virdon is the new manager of the Yankees after Ralph Houk's resignation following the previous season. This is the first of many manager changes under George Steinbrenner. In his second year as the team's owner, Steinbrenner is suspended after the '74 season, having pleaded guilty for his illegal contributions to Richard Nixon's '72 campaign.

Having been drafted by the Padres, brought straight to the major league club, and not won Rookie of the Year honors last year, Dave Winfield plays his first full season with the Padres, hits 20 home runs, and steals 9 bases.

George Brett plays his rookie season with the Royals, and Robin Yount plays his with the Brewers.

Carl Yastrzemski of the Boston Red Sox has a batting average of .301, and this is his last time batting .300 or better. He also hits his 300th home run and finishes the season with 303. Yaz is the AL leader in runs scored with 93.

Al Kaline of the Tigers plays his final season, and he finishes his career with 3007 hits and 399 home runs.

Kaline gets his 3000th hit Sept. 24, and Cardinals pitcher Bob Gibson gets his 3000th strikeout July 17.

Harmon Killebrew plays with the Twins one more year before spending the last season of his career with the Royals. His 13 homers in '74 bring his all-time total to 559, making him the fifth player to get to 550.

The fourth, Frank Robinson, is traded from the Angels to the Indians Sept. 12. On Oct. 3, Robinson signs a contract to manage the team in '75. It is a historic first that makes him a future Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient.

Brooks Robinson of the Orioles wins the 15th in his string of 16 Gold Gloves.

Pete Rose of the Reds scores a league-best 110 runs.

After the season, Aaron goes to Tokyo for a home-run contest against Sadaharu Oh, the Yomiuri Giants player who will reach one more than Aaron's eventual career mark in '77. Oh hits 9 home runs in 20 tries, and Aaron goes 10 for 18. While he is abroad, the Braves carry out Aaron's plans to go back to Milwaukee and be a designated hitter for the Brewers next season.

Lee MacPhail begins his ten-year service as AL President.

The first salary arbitration meetings are held Feb. 11. As a result, Dave Woodson gets $29,000 in salary like he wanted and not just the $23,000 the Twins offered.

An arbitration meeting Dec. 13 grants Hunter free agency, and the Yankees sign him for $750,000 a year on New Year's Eve. Up to that point, the Mets' Tom Seaver has the biggest contract, signed Feb. 21 at $172,000 per year (some sources say $172,500).

The Yankees retire the number 16 in honor of Whitey Ford August 3.

Topps issues its first "factory set" of 660 baseball cards instead of releasing the set in installments like they did before. This is also the first year of the Topps Traded series, one of whose cards brings the news that Juan Marichal of the Giants was bought Dec. 7, 1973, by the Red Sox. Marichal is released Oct. 24, but will be picked up by the Dodgers in '75 for his final season.

Another Giants legend is on a different team starting this season: Willie McCovey had been traded to the Padres Nov. 25, 1973.

Managers with new teams in '74: Houk is with the Tigers and Dick Williams, manager of the A's in '72 and '73, now manages the Angels. Preston Gomez gets the keys to the Houston Astros from Leo Durocher sometime before the season.

The Indians' red jerseys make their debut. By '78, the team will decide it's time for a new look.

The Tigers announce that they refuse to move to Pontiac, whose Silverdome is under construction and will be finished for the Lions in 1975. Tigers owner John Fetzer says the team "belongs to the inner city of Detroit."

Atlanta's WSB radio wins a Peabody Award for this year's "Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream."

The first woman to coach in organized baseball is Lanny Moss of the Northwest League's unaffiliated Portland Mavericks.

USC wins the College World Series for the fifth time in a row, defeating the U. of Miami 7-3 in the championship game.

A team from Kaohsiung, with a 12-1 win over Red Bluff, California, in the final, wins the fourth Little League World Series for Chinese Taipei in a row and the fifth overall. There will be no foreign teams at next year's tournament.

Little League Baseball opens the gates for girls June 12 when a New Jersey court finds in favor of the National Organization for Women.

Wagner would have been 100 years old February 24.

Dizzy Dean dies July 17. Jim Murray of the Los Angeles Times leads with this line: "Well, we're all 120 years older today." The Cardinals retire the number 17 in Dean's honor Sept. 22.

In Peanuts strips for late September, Linus Van Pelt, in his role as statistician, reveals that Charlie Brown's ERA is around 80.00 and that Lucy Van Pelt has no putouts or assists this season.

LINKS
For general information about baseball in '74, start here at baseball-reference.com
No. 715 in 1999, according to Sports Illustrated
The details of 10-Cent Beer Night, from ESPN.com's Page 2
The '74 World Series, according to MLB.com
Brock's stolen bases record, from a contemporary Sports Illustrated article
More on Steinbrenner's career from NorthJersey.com
Future Hall of Famer Eddie Murray in the minor leagues
The first Topps Traded set according to Cardboard Connection

NEXT TIME: Golf, horse racing, and auto racing

College Basketball: The '73-74 Season

[EDIT 6/22/2015: Making apostrophes show up right in all kinds of encoding]

[EDIT 2/4/2023 9:35 a.m.: One player's name was different in college]

[EDIT 11/30/2023 2:18 p.m.: Adding "basketball" label]

Posting this one just a little before March.

North Carolina State wins the NCAA tournament. En route to a 76-64 win against Marquette in the championship game, they defeat the UCLA powerhouse 80-77 in double overtime. NC State's record for the season is 30-1.

The Bruins' loss to the Wolfpack is one of four that season; the first, against Notre Dame Jan. 28, brings their 88-game winning streak to an end. The Fighting Irish, playing at home, overcome an 11-point deficit in the last 3:30 to win 71-70.

Bill Walton wins three of the four outstanding player awards he had swept in '72 and '73 (namely: UPI, U.S. Basketball Writers' Association, and the Naismith Award). At the end of his time at UCLA, his total is 1370 rebounds. He has 398 in '73-74 and averages 19.3 points per game, but those marks aren't as high as the ones for his sophomore and junior years.

Instead of giving Walton the outstanding player award for a third time, the AP chooses David Thompson of NC State. Thompson averages 26.0 points per game this year with 245 rebounds (7.9 per game). He is also the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four, with 51.4 FG%, 78.6 FT%, 17 rebounds, and 49 points in two games.

The consensus All-America team is as follows: Walton, Thompson, Keith (later Jamaal) Wilkes of UCLA, John Shumate of Notre Dame, Marvin Barnes of Providence.

Who is the Coach of the Year? The UPI says Digger Phelps of Notre Dame, the USBWA and the AP say Norm Sloan of NC State, and the National Association of Basketball Coaches says Al McGuire of Marquette. In '75, all of those awards will go to Bobby Knight.

Larry Fogle of Canisius leads the NCAA with 33.4 PPG. Or, by another set of standards, it's William Averitt of Pepperdine with 33.9.

Barnes has 597 rebounds in 32 games, the top NCAA mark for that category. He had 571 in 30 games the year before, but finished second on the leaderboard.

The per-game rebound leader, for the second time in a row, is Kermit Washington of American. His average was 19.8 last season and an even 20.0 this season.

Lute Olson, future Iowa and Arizona coach, coaches this year at Long Beach State after a year at Long Beach City College. He takes over for Jerry Tarkanian, who will begin the first of many years at UNLV next season.

Speaking of Long Beach State, their home winning streak ends at 75 sometime in '74. Their 94-84 loss to San Francisco ends a run that began in 1968. Another home-court winning streak begins this calendar year: UNLV's 72 times defending their home.

Purdue wins the NIT with a 97-81 win over Utah in the final. The Utes' Mike Sojourner is the tournament MVP.

Morgan State wins the Division II title.

Alcorn State, a future NCAA Division I school, loses the NAIA final to West Georgia.

This is the first year freshmen are eligible for varsity teams.

Immaculata University wins the AIAW title for the third year in a row in the third edition of this women's tournament.

OUTSIDE THE COLLEGE GAME

Moses Malone leads Petersburg High to a second consecutive state championship in Virginia high school basketball. His 896 points in 25 games (for an average of 35.8) is a single-season total-points record that will stand for 19 years and still a record for a 12th-grader forty years later. His career scoring average is 27.2, which remains one of the best in state history.

The Soviet Union wins the FIBA championship in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Yugoslavia finishes second in this tournament, which is the last time a round-robin decides the champion instead of a single final game.

NC State's '74 team on ESPN.com
[8/13/2015: Site about UCLA's streak coming to an end expired.]
NCAA Tournament Review from CBSSports.com
Consensus All-Americans of the '70s from Sports-Reference.com
Who is Lute Olson? Find out on About.com
VHSL Records including Moses Malone's (PDF)
Official home of the '74 FIBA tournament

COMING IN MARCH: THE '74 BASEBALL SEASON