Which Year Was It? Trivia Quiz

Answer: 1960

BASEBALL : In the seventh game of the 1960 World Series between the Pittsburgh Pirates and New York Yankees, second baseman for the Pirates, Bill Mazeroski, banged Ralph Terry's second pitch over the wall in the bottom of the 9th inning. This gave the Pirates their first World Series since 1925, when they won their second title (their first came in 1909).
The second occasion a World Series was ended by a HR was in 1993, when Toronto's Joe Carter hit a homer off Mitch Williams in the bottom of the ninth in game 6. The Blue Jays were defending champs, and won the series against the Philadelphia Phillies 4-2. According to www.worldseries.com, Carter's homer in '93 came in the 531st World Series game!

CRICKET : Wednesday 14th December 1960, at the 'Gabba in Brisbane: Australia required 233 runs to beat the West Indies, on the 5th and final day of the first Test. On the 6th ball of the last over Wally Grout and Ian Meckiff ran two and turned for the 3rd, and winning, run ... but Grout was run out by a throw to the keeper by Conrad Hunte, from 75 metres out! The Aussies needed one run to win, but only one wicket was standing. Lindsay Kline played the next ball, the second last ball of the match, and set off for the winning run - Joe Solomon threw at the stumps, side on from 10 metres, leaving Meckiff stranded, and he was run out!
Australia were all out for 232, a tie. Prior to that last delivery, the West Indies captain, Frank Worell was reported to have told his bowler, Wes Hall: "If you bowl a no-ball you will never be allowed to set foot in Barbados again." Incredibly, only 27 years went by before the next tied Test was played, India v Australia at Madras in September 1986.

OLYMPIC GAMES : Rome 1960: not only did Abebe Bikila (1932-1973) win his first gold medal running barefoot, he smashed the Olympic record by almost eight minutes, in a time of two hours, 15 minutes and 16 seconds, and was the first black African to win Olympic Gold. When he successfully defended his title at Tokyo in 1964, he became the first Olympic marathoner to retain his title.
Al Oerter defended his initial 1956 discus title three times: Rome 1960, Tokyo 1964, and Mexico 1968, and thus became the first athlete to win Olympic Gold in the same event at four Olympics. He set an Olympic record at each of these four Olympics.

Answer: 1983

AMERICA'S CUP : This cup is considered by many historians to be sport's oldest trophy. Australia II, with its winged-keel (designed by Ben Lexcen) defeated Liberty, for the first victory by a non-American boat in the race's history. For 132 years, from 1851 to 1983, the New York Yacht Club had successfully defended the Cup on 25 consecutive occasions. It is probably the longest winning streak in sporting history. Australia II came from 1-3 down to win 4-3. The 7th race was televised live downunder, starting before midnight and finishing around 7.20am .. many of us were late for work that day!

GOLF : US Women's Open: Jan Stephenson had previously won the LPGA in 1982. In the 1983 Open she bogeyed the last 2 holes for a final round 3 over par 74, holding off Carner who came home with a final round 68 (the lowest for the tournament). The runner-up JoAnne Carner had won the title in 1971 and 1976. After her win Stephenson was quoted as saying: "Now maybe people will stop thinking of me only as a sex symbol and realise I can really play golf". She joined the LPGA in 1974, was named Rookie of the Year, and ended her career with 16 LPGA victories, plus the 1973 and 1977 Australian Opens.

BASKETBALL : After their 4-2 finals win in 1967 against the San Francisco Warriors (they became the Golden State Warriors in 1971), the 76ers lost 2-4 in 1977 against Portland, 2-4 in 1980 against the Lakers, and 2-4 in 1982, once again against the Lakers. The title was finally won in 1983. The next appearance in the NBA finals by the 76ers was in the new millennium, when they lost 1-4 in 2001 ... to the Lakers, again!

Answer: 1973

SUPER BOWL : The Dolphins completed their season (September 1972 to December 1972) with a white-wash, a 14-0 win-loss record, and then won every post-season game, culminating in a 14-7 Super Bowl win against the Washington Redskins. They were the first* team to finish an NFL season undefeated, and win every game. A few teams before them had come close: the 1934 Bears won all 13 regular season games, then lost the Championship Games (there were no play-offs), and the 1942 Bears won all 11 regular season games, then lost the Championship Game.
The Dolphins were back at the Super Bowl in January 1974, retaining their title with a 24-7 win against the Minnesota Vikings (it was their 3rd consecutive appearance in the Super Bowl, they lost 3-24 against the Dallas Cowboys in January 1972).
* in the 1948 All-American Football Conference, the Cleveland Browns also won every game of the season: they went 15-0 in the regular season, and then won the Championship Game. The Browns were champions of the AAFC throughout its existence: 1946-47-48-49. The AAFC folded after these 4 seasons and (as part of the settlement between the NFL and AAFC) the Browns, San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Colts joined the NFL in 1950.

FA CUP : Leeds United were expected to win the 1973 FA Cup Final in a cake-walk, but no-one had bothered to tell the unfancied team from Roker Park, who had finished 6th in the Second Division (missing promotion to the First Division). Sunderland beat Leeds 1-0 with a solitary goal by Ian Porterfield in the 31st minute, and outstanding goalkeeping by Ian Montgomery (one of them was a miracle save from a Peter Lorimer shot at point-blank range, which Montgomery pushed onto the underside of the cross-bar, and out). In the previous year's FA Cup Final, Leeds had beaten the defending Cup holders and Double Champions, Arsenal, 1-0 in the Centenary Final (the first FA Cup Final was held in 1872).

HORSE RACING : Sired by Bold Ruler out of Somethingroyal, Secretariat won the Kentucky Derby in record time, beating Sham (both horses were the first to break 2 minutes in the history of the race). His jockey, Ron Turcotte, who rode the 1972 Kentucky Derby winner, Riva Ridge, became the first jockey to win back-to-back Derbies at Churchill Downs (host track for the Kentucky Derby). Secretariat won the Preakness Stakes, in another record time (not credited due to timing faults), again beating Sham.
In the Belmont Stakes history was made: Secretariat came home a mind-boggling 31 lengths in front of the second placed horse, Twice A Prince, setting a world record of 2:24 for the mile and a half (Sham came home last, and never raced again). He broke the 16 year old track record held by Gallant Man by 2.6 seconds (about 13 lengths). He was the 9th horse to win the Triple Crown, and retired to stud after 21 starts in just 16 months (16 wins, 3 seconds, and a third - he was unplaced in his first start, when he finished fourth). Secretariat sired the 1986 U.S. Horse of the Year, Lady's Secret, and the winner of the 1990 Melbourne Cup downunder, Kingston Rule.

Answer: 1967

ICE HOCKEY : The 1967 Stanley Cup was won by Toronto 4-2. Apart from Chicago (who beat Detroit in 1961), Montreal and Toronto were the only winners of the Stanley Cup during the 1960s: Toronto won four (1962-63-64-67), and Montreal won the other five (1960-65-66-68-69).
The NHL commenced in 1917 with 4 teams, increased to 10 teams in 1926-27, and was reduced to six teams for the 1942-43 season, now known as "the original six" (Boston Bruins, Chicago Black Hawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, and Toronto Maple Leafs). The NHL doubled in size for the 1967-68 season: the original six formed the East Division, and all six expansion teams were grouped into a West Division. As all the playoff rounds leading up to the finals were kept within these two divisions, it ensured one of the expansion teams would reach the final round. St. Louis advanced through the play-offs to the 1968 Stanley Cup finals, and lost 0-4 to Montreal.

TENNIS : Roy Emerson won Wimbledon twice (1964-65), the US Open twice (1961-64), Roland Garros twice (1963-67), and the Australian Open six times (1961-63-64-65-66-67). His record number of grand slam singles titles was broken in 2000 by Pete Sampras of the USA, when his Wimbledon victory gave him grand slam number 13. His win in the 2002 US Open was grand slam number 14, being seven Wimbledon crowns (1993-94-95-97-98-99-2000), five US Opens (1990-93-95-96-2002), and two Australian Opens (1994-97). Sampras did not win a title at Roland Garros amongst those 14.

SUPER BOWL : The AFL commenced in 1960, in competition to the NFL. In 1966 the two leagues agreed to a common draft (for their respective financial survival) and their 1966 champions met in January 1967 for the AFL-NFL World Championship Game. The expression "Super Bowl" was a nickname coined, according to most historians, by AFL team owner Lamar Hunt (Kansas City Chiefs), whose children owned a toy called a "super ball". The two leagues formally merged in 1970, and the 10 AFL teams and 16 NFL teams were split into two divisions: the American Conference and the National Conference (three NFL teams were placed into the American Conference: Baltimore Colts, Cleveland Browns, and the Pittsburgh Steelers).

RUGBY LEAGUE : St. George RLFC had won eleven consecutive premierships from 1956 to 1966, and were knocked out of the 1967 title race at the last hurdle. This was probably a world record for consecutive titles in a first-tier level football competition. In any event, it has been broken since, on a number of occasions. e.g. Rosenberg were champions on Norway for 13 consecutive seasons (1992-2004); and BATE Borisav were champions of Belarus from 13 consecutive season (2006-2018).

Answer: 1961

FORMULA 1 GP : In his 4th season (his debut was at the French GP in 1958), Phil Hill of the USA became World Champion. His team-mate von Trips had accumulated enough points, prior to his death, to finish second in the rankings at the end of the season, a point behind Phil Hill. The first win of his GP career had come a year earlier in the 1960 Italian GP, when he beat his team-mate von Trips. He became only the second American to win a European Grand Prix, behind Jimmy Murphy who won the French GP back in 1922 (he also won the 1922 Indianapolis 500).

FA CUP : The first Double was achieved in 1888-89, the Football League's inaugural season, when Preston North End went through the season undefeated to win the Football League Championship, and won the 1889 FA Cup without conceding a goal throughout the tournament. Aston Villa became the 2nd club to lift both trophies in the same season, when they won both competitions in 1896-97 and 1897 respectively. More than 60 years passed before another Double arrived (Spurs 1961) and then only 10 years for the 4th Double (Arsenal 1971).

BASEBALL : Roger Maris hit 61 homers in the last game of the season (in a season with 162 games), breaking Bambino's record of 60 homers (the 1927 season had 154 games). Babe Ruth also played for the New York Yankees. The 1961 season was MLB's first expansion year, when two new teams joined the American League, the LA Angels (subsequently Anaheim Angels) and the Washington Senators (subsequently the Texas Rangers), which extended the season from 154 games to 162. The American League and National League had eight teams each from 1901 to 1960.
To "settle statistical disputes" as to which of those two records were "the better", both of them were blown away by Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals who, in 1998, hit his 62nd home run in his 145th game. He finished the season with 70 HRs.