Today in Sports History: January 30th

(Magic waiting to check in against the Warriors. Photo courtesy of Getty Images)
1/30/1958 - Frick removes fan voting
Baseball commissioner Ford Frick announces that fans will no longer decide the starters for the MLB All-Star Game. His decision was a direct reaction to the '57 game, in which Cincinnati fans voted in all but one of the Reds' position players into the starting lineup. Frick had reduced the number of Reds in the lineup from seven to five, appointing Hank Aaron and Willie Mays to replace Wally Post and Gus Bell. Still, he was not satisfied with the ballot stuffing that had taken place.
Frick's decision would stay active until 1970, when commissioner Bowie Kuhn gave the voting back to the fans.
1/30/1996 - Magic returns to the court
Four years after stepping away from basketball because he was HIV-positive, Magic Johnson returns to the basketball court. Johnson, who owned a 5% share of the Lakers and briefly coached them in 1994, suited up for his old team at the Great Western Forum. Magic played only 27 minutes off the bench but he showed why he was considered the greatest point guard of all time -- he totaled 19 points, 10 assists, and eight rebounds as the Lakers beat the Golden State Warriors, 128-118.
Magic was a different player in his second stint with the Lakers. In his championship heyday, Johnson, at 6-foot-8, was the tallest point guard in the league, but he had gained almost thirty pounds since his retirement and played the power forward position instead. Magic averaged 14.6 points, 6.9 assists and 5.7 rebounds in 32 games and improved the Lakers dramatically. At the time of his signing, L.A. was 24-18; they won 29 of 40 games after signing him and posted the fourth best record in the Western Conference.
In the postseason, Los Angeles fell to the Houston Rockets in the first round of the postseason. Half a month later, Johnson announced that he was retiring for good. "I was satisfied with my return to the NBA, although I would have hoped we would have gone further into the playoffs," Johnson said. "But now I'm ready to give it up. It's time to move on."
0 recs |
0 comments
|

by 








