1966 was a GREAT year! I say the BEST year! Why is that? Let me tell you. There were all kinds of things happening in 1966. A lot of stuff that would resemble TODAY quite a bit, but that is NOT what I am going to tell you. I am going to tell you about the GOOD stuff.
We all know that the Super Bowl is tomorrow, well the first NFL/AFL Championship game for the "1966" season was established. Thank goodness they changed the name to Super Bowl. Of course it wasn't played until 1/15/67, but still it was for the 1966 Championship.
The Braves moved to Atlanta and their inaugural season was 1966. Did you know the Braves drafted Tom Seaver on Jan. 29th, 1966? They did, but then it was "voided". Atlanta sports teams have historically had some big name draft picks in all sports like Dr. J and Brett Favre. Geez, some big names HOFer's there. Anyways, let's hash over the Braves 66' season. the 1st game was against the Pirates on 4/12/66, and was a 13 inning loss. Cloninger was the pitcher and took the loss. The rest of the starting line up was: Felipe Alou, Eddie Mathews, Hank Aaron, Rico Carty, Joe Torre, Menke, Thomas, and Boling. Speaking of Cloninger, he was the first National league player to hit TWO grand slams in 1 game (7/3/66). Not bad for a pitcher, huh? Here's another tidbit: On 4/28/66 The Braves traded Bill Cowan to the Cubs for Bobby Cox plus cash. I think that trade worked out for the Braves......For many years. One more Braves tidbits. On 9/11/66 Pat Jarvis another pitcher was the first strikeout victim for Nolan Ryan. Who knew that he would go on to K another 5,713!
1966 was also the inaugural season for the Falcons who finished in 7th place with a record of 3-11 losing their first 9 contests plus a pre-season game. Good news Tommy Nobis who was their #1 draft pick was still able to win the ROY.
Things cost a whole lot less back then. Homes were 14K. Stamps a mere nickel.Gas .32.
ABC tv brought Batman to the boob tube, and the Monkees made their debut. The first Best Buy was opened. The Doors released their debut album...um I mean LP. On a sad note Walt Disney died, man o'man would he roll over in his grave if he could see what has happened to his company, that is to say HE would NOT be happy. Ronald Reagan was elected Governor of California. The first sighting of the MothMan in West Virginia happened.
Some great births also happened: Adam Sandler, Salma Hayek, Halle Berry, Janet Jackson. Get this Greg Maddux and David Justice share the exact same birth date. But the most important was I was born in Atlanta, GA in 1966.
Now that is an off the wall kind of post.
At least we got Salma. :)
ReplyDeleteGreat post! There were actually lots of things I didn't know here. I think I was in 1st grade in 1966.
ReplyDeleteEveryone talks about Jeff Bagwell/Frank Thomas, I didn't know that about Maddux and Justice. Sure would be interesting to go back to 1966. I'd love to travel there if I could.
ReplyDeleteNow I know a lot more about 1966 than I did...which was not much.
ReplyDelete1966 was quite the year! Cool about Maddux and Dave Justice!
ReplyDeleteOld Walt would probably have a heart attack and die again if he came back and saw what's happened to his company.
ReplyDeleteAwesome post. Lots of interesting information. $14k homes. Maddux and Justice sharing birthdates. The Doors first album. Great stuff.
ReplyDeleteAny of those guys could have changed the course of a franchise but it wasn't to be. I still can't believe the Hawks were so close to having Dr. J. SMH
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