810. NEW YORK RANGERS VS NEW YORK ISLANDERS
PATRICK DIVISION FINALS
GAME SIX
APRIL 22, 1983
MADISON SQUARE GARDEN
QUALITY OF PLAY—6.74
DRAMA—6.23
STAR POWER—7.75
CONTEMPORARY IMPORT—7.35
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE—7.05
LOCAL IMPACT—8.55
TOTAL: 43.67
“ONE-SIDED RIVALRY”
The story of the “Expressway Series” between the Islanders and the Rangers in the early-80s was Sisyphean from a Rangers perspective—no matter how hard they pushed the rock up the hill, the Isles would boot it back down again. After the huge Blueshirt upset of 1979, the New York squads faced off each year between 1981-1984, with the suburbanites winning each time.
The 1983 version of this one-sided affair was typical of these matchups—close and thrilling. The seven regular season games were exceptionally tight and wonderful to watch. The Isles won four of them, but each team scored 21 goals.
But local pride was one thing, playoff success another, and the neophytes had the lion’s share of both, having won the last three Stanley Cups. The Isles finished well behind Philly in the Patrick Division, with the Rangers in fourth, but the Broadway Blues stunningly swept the Flyers in the first round, setting up another clash between rivals in the Patrick Finals, their fifth encounter in the postseason to date.
The legendary Herb Brooks, coach of the Miracle On Ice USA team in 1980, had signed on the following year to perform similar water-into-wine tricks with the Rangers, now working on 43 years without a championship. He revved his side up into a fever pitch before Game One in Nassau, only to see his guys run up against a brick wall named Billy Smith. The Islanders netminder held the Rangers to a single goal over the first two games, both easily claimed by the Isles.
But the Rangers fought back with a pair of memorable home wins, including a 7-6 thriller, to even the series. Sisyphus was pushing his stone back toward the crest. But down it went again in Game Five, a 7-2 Isles rout highlighted by a memorable Bob Bourne end-to-end rush and tally, a play reminiscent of Diego Maradona vs England in Mexico 1986.
So the teams were back where they had been almost exactly a year ago, in 1982, when the Isles led 3-2 and hoped to close out the series at the Garden, this time on Friday night, April 22, 1983.
Unsurprisingly, perhaps, the Rangers fans who jammed the Garden were in a rowdy mood, and they showered the Islanders with obscenities, verbal abuse, and showers of spit and beer as they sat on the bench. “What the Ranger fans did not understand was that the Islanders noticed the signs, heard the insults, were aware of the spitting upon them and it only helped motivate them all the more,” wrote Phil Pepe in the Daily News.
The angered Isles flew around in the first period, outshooting the Rangers 18-7, but the lone goal was by the home team, Ron Duguay beating a screened Smith. The visitors continued to dominate play, however, and they scored two quick goals early in the second, from winger John Tonelli and center Butch Goring. The Rangers tied it thanks to Mikko Leinonen, and after 40 minutes the game was knotted at 2. It was there for either team to seize.
But the main characteristic of dynastic teams is their ability to rise to the occasion late, and the Islanders did just that.
Tonelli mentioned before the game that he had nightmares “about what it would be like not to win the Stanley Cup.” JT appropriately put the Rangers to sleep, fighting through a pair of defenders to poke the puck to Bobby Nystrom, who slid a pass across the crease, where Goring lifted it over Mio. “Nobody works harder than Johnny Tonelli,” said Nystrom, who was a classic mucker himself. Just five minutes into the third period the Isles were in front 3-2.
NYI had taken the lead, and they would keep it. Brent Sutter scored to make it 4-2 a couple of minutes later. Late in the game Mark Pavelich burst in free on Smith, and beat him to his right, but the shot clanged off the post. That was the final hope in the Rangers season. Ken Morrow scored from distance for an icing on the cake goal, and a bit later, the teams were shaking hands, with the Islanders celebrating yet again, a 5-2 victory in the game and another win over the Rangers, once more in six games.
The stone lay at the bottom of the hill once more.
AFTERMATH:
The series win was the Islanders’ 14th straight, a new NHL record, one they expanded upon. In 1983 they beat Boston in the conference finals and then swept Edmonton and Wayne Gretzky to win their fourth consecutive championship. John Tonelli could sleep well.
WHAT THEY SAID:
“I think the gap is closer. But I still think the Islanders are the best team in hockey until somebody proves different. It wouldn’t hurt me if the Cup stayed in New York.”
—Herb Brooks, not really getting the Islanders-Rangers rivalry
FURTHER READING:
Rangers Vs. Islanders by Stan Fischler and Zachary Weintstock
VIDEO:
809. BROOKLYN SUPERBAS VS BOSTON DOVES
SEPTEMBER 5, 1908
WASHINGTON PARK
QUALITY OF PLAY—8.25
DRAMA—7.65
STAR POWER—7.15
CONTEMPORARY IMPORT—7.43
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE—7.05
LOCAL IMPACT—7.37
TOTAL: 43.68
“NAP’S NO-NO”
1908 was one of the greatest seasons in baseball history, although not so much in Brooklyn. In a long losing campaign for the N.L. team, the lone bright spot came courtesy—as usual—of their star lefty hurler, Nap Rucker.
The son of a former Confederate soldier, Rucker hailed from a town out of Faulkner called Crabapple, Georgia, situated a little north of where I write this, just east of Atlanta. He played minor league ball in Augusta with Ty Cobb, and roomed with the volatile outfielder. According to Nap’s SABR biography written by Eric Enders, one day Cobb came home from a game to discover Rucker had beaten him into the bathtub, flew into a rage, and tried to strangle the naked pitcher.
After the heated passions of the south, Brooklyn must have seemed a breeze for Nap (his given name was George, middle name Napoleon, a not-uncommon appellation in those days). Beginning in 1907, Rucker pitched for the Superbas, one of a host of nicknames for the Brooklyn Nine that was run up the flagpole before “Dodgers” stuck. Though his teams were mostly lousy, Rucker loved living in the Borough of Kings. “It’s got New York beaten by three bases,” he told a reporter in 1912. “You can get a good night’s rest in Brooklyn. You meet more real human beings in Brooklyn. Your life is safer in Brooklyn.” In other words, Nap would fit right in to the current gentrification of the borough.
The left-handed Rucker threw hard, but his main characteristic was immense endurance. As the AP put it upon Rucker’s death, “He appeared in some of the longest battles in National League history. With his powerful build, there was no limit to his stamina and pitching courage.” Rucker should also be thanked for being responsible for the inimitable baseball life of Casey Stengel. “If it hadn't been for Nap,” said Stengel, whose career began with the Brooks, “I wouldn't have even stayed in baseball. When I broke in I couldn't hit a low ball and pitchers used spitters. Nap started taking me out to the park every morning and he fed me low balls. I learned to cut at the ball some thing like a golf swing. And the next year those guys who had been making a sucker out of me got their ears pinned back.”
After establishing himself as staff ace in ’07, Nap’s second season was even better, although the team around him was dreadful. The 1908 Superbas lost 101 games, even as the Giants were involved in a spectacular and historic pennant battle across the East River. “The Rucker appendage is the only thing that has kept Brooklyn in the league,” wrote the New York Herald, while the Brooklyn Eagle lamented that “the fates have tied him up with an aggregation that has steadfastly refused to make a bid for championship honors.”
The classic Rucker game came as the second of a doubleheader on a breezy Saturday, September 5, 1908, at Washington Park, home of the Superbas. The Boston Doves (soon to be renamed the Braves) were in town as both teams played out the string of miserable campaigns. Boston had a number of former New York Giants on the roster, including Dan McGann, a slow, burly catcher who had brawled with Giants manager John McGraw early that season after the feisty McGraw called his former player an “ice wagon.” They too most likely appreciated the quiet of Brooklyn compared to the angry bustle of Gotham.
A good night’s sleep appeared to help the Braves in the opening game, as they scored a late pair of runs to nip the Brooks 4-3, handing the Superbas their seventh straight loss, giving the team a 43-78 record. Rucker was tabbed to end the agony in the nightcap, which of course was actually played in daylight.
The very first batter Nap faced, George Browne, another former Giant, tapped one to short, where it was kicked by Brooklyn’s Phil Lewis for an error. Typical Superbas. But on the subsequent sacrifice bunt, Rucker turned a double play, struck out the next hitter, and proceeded to cruise from there.
Brooklyn scored four runs in the home half of the second to grab the lead. Rucker struck out five straight batters at one point, on his way to 14 for the game. The crowd was large by 1908 Superbas standards, about 6,000, and they cheered with gusto as Rucker kept fanning Doves, one after another. In the 8th a Dove named Bill Sweeney slashed a liner into right. Brooklyn’s Harry Lumley charged in “like a steam engine” (Eagle) grabbed the ball—and dropped it. Though some judged it a hit, it was officially scored an error, preserving the no-hitter. In the ninth Boston went down quietly, with the last batter striking out. The great Nap had his no-no.
The final score was 6-0. Rucker had whiffed 14 and walked none. Only the two errors prevented a perfect game. His Game Score was 101. It was the first no-hitter thrown by a southpaw in franchise history. Brooklyn’s losing streak was over—they proceeded to turn around and lose their next nine after Rucker’s gem.
AFTERMATH:
The Doves would end up merely 36 games behind the pennant-winning Cubs in 1908, compared to Brooklyn’s 46. Rucker nearly had another no-hitter in 1911, coming within one out of blanking the Reds. He also struck out 16 Phillies in a game in 1909. But unless he was utterly brilliant Rucker and his team usually lost. He had a borderline Hall of Fame career despite a losing record of 135-136. He pitched 166 games in which his opponents were held to six hits or less. He pitched in 21 games that ended 1‐0, and won 11 of them. He would go down as early baseball’s ultimate hard-luck hurler. “I would give a great deal of money to have my club in a World’s Series,” Charles Ebbets told Damon Runyon in 1915, “if only for the honor it would bring Rucker. I will always regard him as one of the greatest men the game has produced—greatest in every way.”
Rucker returned to his native Peach State after baseball, and in 1934 was elected mayor of Roswell, where my brother currently lives (he says he would have stuffed the ballot box for Rucker’s opponent…). Nap died in 1970.
WHAT THEY SAID:
“Rucker had been sent in to save the day, and he fulfilled his mission in the most approved manner. As batsman after batsman faced him they were retired with a regularity that evoked storms of applause from the 6,000 spectators who were on hand.”
—The New York Times (unbylined)
FURTHER READING:
Crazy ’08 by Cait Murphy