The 1990s Sports: Topics in the News

BASEBALL: STRIKES AND RECORD-BREAKERS

Baseball, the national pastime, went from the depths of despair to the heights of joy in the 1990s. Greed and money nearly caused the downfall of the sport. Strikes and work stoppages were nothing new to professional sports, and baseball had experienced its share of both in the previous decades. Beginning in August 1994, a 232-day strike by players wiped out the final 52 days and 669 games of the 1994 season and forced the cancellation of that year's World Series. It was only the second time in the history of major league baseball that the World Series was canceled (the first was in 1904) and the first time it was canceled due to a labor dispute. The strike also wiped out the first 252 games of the 1995 season, raising the total number of games lost to 921: the longest and costliest work stoppage in the history of professional sports.

The quarrel between owners and players arose from the owners' desire to impose a salary cap, which is an agreement that places an upper limit and sometimes a lower limit on the money each team can spend on player salaries. The owners' proposal was to limit each team's salaries to 50 percent of average team revenues. Before the strike, the players received 58 percent of average team revenues.

When baseball finally resumed on April 26, 1995, it did so amidst fan anger directed at players, owners, and baseball in general. Many fans stayed away from the ballparks that season, with attendance 20 percent lower than the previous year. Although average attendance did bounce back by the end of the decade, it never returned to its pre-strike levels.

Of course, moments of pure athletic achievement still delighted those baseball fans who stubbornly refused to boycott the game. Six different teams claimed the nine World Series titles awarded during the decade. The New York Yankees won three championships (1996, 1998, and 1999); in 1998 they won more games (114) than any other team in baseball history. The Atlanta Braves also had a good decade, getting to the World Series five times, but winning only once (1995). The most unexpected championship season was provided by the Florida Marlins, the first and only team in major league history to win the World Series (1997) after making the playoffs as a wild card.

Baseball in the 1990s was rescued by two unlikely events: the shattering of both the consecutive-games-played record and the single-season home-run record, marks that had stood for fifty-six and thirty-seven years, respectively. On September 6, 1995, at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Maryland, Cal Ripken Jr., one of baseball's most respected veterans, broke Lou Gehrig's cherished long-held record for consecutive games played. Gehrig, who had played for the New York Yankees, had set the record of 2,130 consecutive games played between 1925 and 1939. After Ripken had played four-and-one-half innings of the game (which made the game official in the record book), play was halted for thirty minutes as he trotted around the field, shaking hands and accepting applause from the delirious fans in the stands. To top it off, he then hit a home run in the sixth inning. Ripken eventually played in 2,632 straight games, ending the streak only when he benched himself on September 19, 1998.

1990s World Series Champions

The same year that Ripken's streak ended, Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals and Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs chased each other to break another record: Roger Maris's sixty-one home runs during the 1961 season. During the summer of 1998, McGwuire and Sosa lit up the scoreboards of the National League, each hitting more home runs in a single season than any other person in history. During the chase for the record, 70,589,505 fans attended games, many of them filling ballparks specifically to cheer on McGwire and Sosa. People even came early to watch the two players, especially McGwire, in batting practice. McGwire did not just hit balls over the outfield fence—he knocked them out of the ballpark.

The home-run race heated up when McGwire set the new mark of sixty-two on September 8 with his shortest home run of the season. On September 25 Sosa became the first major league player to hit sixty-six homers in one season, but he held that distinction for only forty-five minutes. Incredibly, McGwire hit five home runs in his last nineteen swings, finishing the season with an amazing seventy home runs. Throughout the season both men displayed pure class. On the day that McGwire hit the home run that broke the record, Sosa ran in from the outfield (the fates had the two men playing on the same field that magical day) to bear-hug the man who had been his rival.

Top Twenty American Athletes of the Twentieth Century (as selected by ESPN)

1. Michael Jordan
2. Babe Ruth
3. Muhammad Ali
4. Jim Brown
5. Wayne Gretzky
6. Jesse Owens
7. Jim Thorpe
8. Willie Mays
9. Jack Nicklaus
10. Babe Didrikson
11. Joe Louis
12. Carl Lewis
13. Wilt Chamberlain
14. Hank Aaron
15. Jackie Robinson
16. Ted Williams
17. Magic Johnson
18. Bill Russell
19. Martina Navratilova
20. Ty Cobb

BASKETBALL: I WANT TO BE LIKE MIKE

One man defined basketball in the 1990s: Michael Jordan. He was quite possibly the best athlete in the history of basketball. Opponents occasionally could block his shots, or outscore him in a given game, but Jordan ruled the sport throughout the decade. Everyone understood that the game would not be the same when Jordan retired, first in 1993, then again in 1999 after having returned to the game in 1995. The Chicago Bulls, largely because of Jordan, were the dominant team of the decade, leading the league in championships and even in merchandise sales. Other great players were a part of the mix at various times, including Horace Grant, Scottie Pippen, and Dennis Rodman. They also had an impressive coach in Phil Jackson. How these talented men might have succeeded without Jordan will never be known. For example, Jackson won six titles as Jordan's coach and none without him during the decade.

Jordan was not, however, the only story in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, who had saved basketball in the 1980s, ended their illustrious careers early in the decade. Charles Barkley, John Stockton, Shaquille O'Neal, David Robinson, Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler, and Karl Malone all played magnificently. These players helped form the nucleus of two "Dream Teams," which represented the United States during the 1992 and 1996 Olympics, and they crushed their opponents to win two gold medals. The league seemed to become more competitive during Jordan's absence, as these and other players had the opportunity to face off.

1990s NBA Champions

Even with such talented players, however, professional basketball was usually a delight to behold when Jordan was on the court. In addition to the grace with which he played the game, he had the charisma to keep the public fascinated and tuned in. Yet none of the championship series in which the Bulls participated were blowouts. They always seemed vulnerable, which made Jordan's heroics that much more amazing. In the 1996 finals against the Utah Jazz, Jordan faced Malone, who had won the most valuable player (MVP) award that season. In the series, Jordan averaged thirty-two points per game, hitting the buzzer-beater in the first game, scoring thirty-eight points in the fifth game despite being ill, scoring another thirty-nine points in the sixth and final game, and earning MVP honors for the series.

It took all of Jordan's magic to overcome the bad feelings of fans toward professional basketball resulting from other incidents. Latrell Sprewell's choking assault on his Golden State Warriors coach P. J. Carlesimo on December 1, 1997, and his threats to kill Carlesimo, came across to the fans as typical behavior of spoiled, rich athletes with whom spectators had little in common. It was impossible for many fans to believe that NBA stars were average men who had managed to succeed with hard work and talent. Clearly, such athletes were far from average. When a dispute between management and players threatened to halt play in 1999, it became hard for fans to imagine paying hundreds of dollars to attend a game while billionaire owners and millionaire athletes demanded a greater share of the profits.

1990s Super Bowl Champions

FOOTBALL: IN WITH THE NEW

The 1990s was a decade of expansion and change for the National Football League (NFL). New franchises and stadiums, additional wildcard

teams in the playoffs, expanding television coverage, and increased audiences and attendance all meant more money for the owners and players. It also meant higher ticket prices for the fans. Several teams moved from their home markets to new cities (for example, the Rams from Los Angeles to St. Louis) in search of better facilities, higher attendance, and other financial reasons. The Jacksonville Jaguars and the Carolina Panthers joined the league, and Cleveland was awarded a new team (although they kept their old name, the Browns) after the former Cleveland franchise had moved to Baltimore (to become the Ravens). With all the expansion and moving, some thought the league had been watered-down. Others thought it had been made more exciting.

Off-the-field criminal activities, ranging from drug offenses to domestic abuse, damaged the reputations of many players during the decade. The league fined players for shoving referees during games and for taking part in senseless fistfights away from the stadiums. In July 1999, three members of the New York Jets were arrested following a bar fight. Current and former players were cited for possession of drugs, driving while intoxicated, and violent actions. Several players even attacked and wounded fellow teammates in practice sessions. Most seriously, Rae Carruth, a wide receiver for the Carolina Panthers, went on trial for the drive-by shooting murder of his girlfriend, who was pregnant with their child, on November 16, 1999. He was eventually convicted and sentenced in January 2001 to serve at least twenty years in prison.

In spite of these players' horrendous activities, NFL football continued to be the most popular spectator sport in the country. The decade began with perennial powers the San Francisco 49ers, the New York Giants, the Washington Redskins, and the Dallas Cowboys winning Super Bowls. Dallas won three (1993, 1994, and 1996) and San Francisco two (1990 and 1995). The Giants (1991) and Redskins (1992) each won one, as did the Green Bay Packers (1997), the team's first title in twenty-nine years. The Packers' victory was widely hailed as a deserved reward for faithful Packer fans and quarterback Brett Favre, a three-time league MVP. When the American Football Conference (AFC) Denver Broncos, led by quarterback John Elway, won the Super Bowl in 1998, they broke the stranglehold the National Football Conference had held on the title since 1984. The Broncos came back the following year to win it all once again.

As always, big names dominated play on the gridiron. Fans cheered quarterback sensation Joe Montana during his last years at the helm of the San Francisco 49ers. In 1990, his last year with the team, he led them to another Super Bowl victory, winning the MVP award yet again. Dan Marino, quarterback for the Miami Dolphins, surpassed legendary quarterback Fran Tarkenton (Minnesota Vikings and New York Giants, 1961-78) in four passing categories: attempts, completions, yards, and touchdowns. Jerry Rice, wide receiver for the 49ers, established all-time records for catches and pass receiving yardage. Emmitt Smith, running back for the Cowboys, tallied twenty-five touchdowns in 1995, breaking the old standard. Barry Sanders, running back for the Detroit Lions, rushed for over one thousand yards in ten consecutive seasons (1989–98), setting an NFL record. Don Shula, longtime coach for both the Baltimore Colts (1963–69) and Miami Dolphins (1970–95), became the most winning coach in NFL history on November 14, 1993. When he retired after the 1995 season, Shula had led his teams to a record 347 victories.

HOCKEY: U.S. EXPANSION

Much to the dismay of Canadian fans, their national sport moved south of the border in the 1990s as six new National Hockey League (NHL) franchises played in America's Sun Belt: San Jose Sharks (1991), Tampa Bay Lightning (1992), Anaheim Mighty Ducks (1993), Florida Panthers (1993), Nashville Predators (1998), and Atlanta Thrashers (1999). Only one traditional venue for hockey was added in the decade, the Ottawa Senators (1992). Having gained the Senators, Canada lost the Quebec Nordiques in 1995 when the team moved to Denver and became the Colorado Avalanche. At the same time, the Winnipeg Jets moved to Arizona where they became the Phoenix Coyotes. Completing the southern migration of major league hockey was the relocation of the Hartford Whalers to Raleigh, North Carolina, to become the Carolina Hurricanes. In 1999, one of the southern teams even won the Stanley Cup, the symbol of league supremacy, when the Dallas Stars beat the Buffalo Sabres four games to two.

1990s Stanley Cup Champions

Unfortunately, league expansion did not increase the number of talented recruits to the professional ranks. The results were apparent on the scoreboard. During the 1997–1998 season, teams scored only 5.3 goals per game, the lowest per-game average in the league in forty-two years. Four consecutive years of four-game sweeps (1995–98) in the Stanley Cup finals did nothing to help television ratings, which dropped 27 percent during the regular season and 22 percent during the playoffs. U.S. and Canadian talent often took a back seat to talented players imported from Russia, the Czech Republic, and Finland.

In a move to increase public awareness of hockey in the United States, in 1998 the NHL allowed a seventeen-day break from league play so its players could participate in the Olympics for the first time. Ironically, this break may have benefited the sport far more in other countries than in the United States. The Czech Republic team bested Russia for the gold medal in Nagano, Japan, after beating Canada in a huge upset in the semifinals. The U.S. team failed to win a medal and behaved badly off the ice, committing thousands of dollars worth of vandalism after losing to the Czechs by a score of four to one. In marked contrast, the U.S. women's hockey team behaved better than the men both off and on the ice, winning the gold medal at the same Olympiad.

Great players and coaches, some of whom retired during the decade, left their mark on the game. After a year as a free agent with the New York Rangers, Wayne Gretzky retired from hockey in 1999 at the age of thirty-eight. Although considered to be well past his prime, Gretzky still led the league in assists. During the 1997–98 season, he became the sixth player in NHL history to lead his team (the Rangers) in goals at age thirty-seven or older. Earlier in the decade, Gretzky led the league in assists in 1990, 1991, 1992, and 1994. He won the Art Ross Trophy (1990, 1991, and 1994) for most points scored, calculated by adding goals and assists. Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins won the award four of the other seven years (1992, 1993, 1996, and 1997), and Jaromir Jagr (pronounced YAH-gur) of the Pittsburgh Penguins won the award the other three years (1995, 1998, and 1999). Unlike Gretzky, Scotty Bowman, the winningest coach in professional hockey, did not retire, but continued to win. With 1,300 career victories through the 1999 season, Bowman added three Stanley Cups to his resume (1992 with Pittsburgh, and 1997 and 1998 with Detroit), giving him a total of eight. No other coach, active or inactive, comes close to his numbers.

GOLF: THE BEAR AND THE TIGER

Any discussion of professional golf in the second half of the twentieth century must include Jack Nicklaus. Even in his sixth decade, Nicklaus dominated the news from the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) and the talk on golf courses everywhere. Though he did not win a major golf tournament during the 1990s, Nicklaus, nicknamed the Golden Bear, kept things interesting and exciting in a variety of ways. He was on every allsports, all-century list that came out during the decade. In 1998, he made the Masters Championship exciting with a Sunday charge that had him only two strokes off the lead on the front nine (the first nine of eighteen holes) on the final day of the tournament. He ended up in sixth place, only four strokes behind the winner. Finally, after 154 consecutive appearances in the major championships, Nicklaus declined to participate in the U.S. Open in 1998. His streak is unlikely to be broken.

PGA Player of the Year in the 1990s

As Nicklaus's star began to dim, another player, Tiger Woods, seemed to challenge the Golden Bear for the title of greatest golfer of the century. Indeed, no player other than Nicklaus had ever ruled the sport as Woods did toward the end of the 1990s. Woods's reign began when as a teenager he won the U.S. Amateur Championship each of three consecutive years (1994–96), becoming the first golfer in history to do so. In 1996, he also won the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championship. When he turned pro in September 1996, his first year of competition was better than the lifetime careers of most players. He won the fifth event he entered, the Las Vegas Invitational, and finished first in six of twenty-five events, breaking the single-season money record. Woods won the 1997 Masters by shooting an amazingly low eighteen-under-par score over seventy-two holes, twelve strokes better than his nearest competitor. He suffered a "sophomore slump" in 1998, yet still compiled a record that many golfers would envy, winning three events. Then in 1999, Woods returned to the top of his game, earning more than $6 million to set another record—more than doubling the annual winnings of any other golfer in history.

Although Woods dominated the headlines, many professional golfers played well during the decade. Hale Irwin won the U.S. Open (1990), three PGA Senior Championships (1996–98), the U.S. Senior Open (1998), and the Senior Players' Championship (1999). Three players each won the U.S. Open twice: Payne Stewart (1991 and 1999), Lee Janzen (1993 and 1998), and Ernie Els (1994 and 1997). Stewart's death in a plane crash in 1999, however, cut short his brilliant career. Mark O'Meara had a good year in 1998, winning both the Masters and the British Open. John Daly won two majors, the PGA (1991) and British Open (1995). Other players who won regularly and earned big money included Davis Love III, Fred Couples, Tom Kite, and David Duval. By the end of the decade, each had made more than $10 million in their careers.

Women's golf also had its bright stars. Betsy King began the 1990s the same way she finished the 1980s, winning two U.S. Women's Opens (1989 and 1990) and three Dinah Shore Classics (1987, 1990, 1997). These victories helped King become the all-time leading money winner on the women's tour with over six million dollars. Other multiple American winners in the major women's tournaments during the decade included Beth Daniel, Patty Sheehan, Meg Mallon, and Juli Inkster.

TENNIS: SAMPRAS'S DECADE

Pete Sampras practically owned men's professional tennis during the 1990s. Sampras not only won six Wimbledon trophies (1993–95 and 1997–99), he also won the Australian Open twice (1994, 1997) and U.S. Open four times (1990, 1993, 1995, 1996). Sports Illustrated called him the best male tennis player of the century when he edged out Bill Tilden, whose glory years were in the 1920s. At the end of the decade, Sampras had won 61 career titles and spent more weeks (276) as the top-ranked player than anyone in history.

The fortunes of other Americans playing professional tennis were much more erratic. Andre Agassi was both hot and cold during the decade, winning five Grand Slam events: Wimbledon (1992), the U.S. Open (1994, 1999), the Australian Open (1995), and the French Open (1999). Other American men who had a memorable decade included Jim Courier and

Michael Chang. Courier won twice in Australia (1992 and 1993) and twice in France (1991 and 1992). Chang is one of only three American men to earn at least $15 million in career winnings, along with Sampras ($35 million) and Agassi ($15 million).

On the women's professional tour, Monica Seles, Lindsay Davenport, and the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, all took center stage. Davenport won the titles in the 1996 Olympics, U.S. Open (1998), and Wimbledon (1999). Seles won nine Grand Slam events, but had to endure time off the court at the peak of her career after being stabbed by a fan of her rival, Steffi Graf, in 1993. Having already won the Australian Open (1991–93), the French Open (1990–92), and the U.S. Open (1991–92), Seles spent a significant portion of the next three years recovering from her stab wounds. Remarkably, she returned to the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour with a win at the Canadian Open in 1995 and reclaimed the Australian Open title in 1996. Venus and Serena Williams were rising stars, with Venus claiming nine singles titles before the end of the decade and Serena claiming her first Gland Slam title, the U.S. Open, in 1999.

U.S. Open Tennis Tournament Champions

THE OLYMPICS

The 1992 Winter Olympics, held in Albertville, France, featured 1,313 male and 488 female athletes representing 64 nations. It was the first Olympiad after the end of the cold war, the period of extreme political tension between the United States and the former Soviet Union after World War II (1939–45). The breakup of the former Soviet Union, which had begun in the late 1980s, and the dismantling of the Berlin Wall (1989) affected the Olympics as countries such as Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia competed under their own flags for the first time since before World WarII. Germany sent one team instead of two (since East and West Germany had reunited), and some former Soviet athletes competed under the United Team name.

Athletes from the United States won five gold medals, four silver medals, and two bronze medals in Albertville, placing the team fifth in the overall medal count. Americans won two medals in the showcase event of women's figure skating, where Kristi Yamaguchi, the favorite, won the gold, and Nancy Kerrigan won the bronze. The other U.S. Olympic star in Albertville was speed skater Bonnie Blair, who won gold in the women's 500- and 1,000-meter races.

In the summer games held that year in Barcelona, Spain, 169 nations were represented by 9,367 athletes (6,659 men and 2,708 women). Politics seemed to matter less than in previous years as Cuba, North Korea, and Ethiopia ended their boycotts, with each nation having missed two Olympic games. South Africa, which had been absent since 1960 because of its government-sponsored racial-discriminatory policy of apartheid, also returned to competition.

Many American athletes competed in Barcelona with considerable distinction but some failed to meet expectations. The basketball Dream Team, made up of National Basketball Association (NBA) all-stars (the first time professionals were allowed to represent the United States in basketball) swept easily to a gold medal. The baseball team, however, managed only a fourth-place finish in the new Olympic sport. Overall, the U.S. Olympic team won gold medals in thirty-seven events, second only to the Unified Team in the gold-medal count. American athletes also took home thirty-four silver medals and thirty-seven bronze medals. Track and field star Carl Lewis continued to strengthen his claim during the 1990s as the outstanding male Summer Olympic athlete of the century. Lewis became one of only two individuals ever to win nine Olympic gold medals in track and field. Jesse Owens, along with Lewis, became the only two athletes to win four gold medals in the same event. Although affected by a virus during the 1992 Olympics, Lewis was still able to win gold in the long jump, a feat he also achieved in 1984, 1988, and 1996. Jackie Joyner-Kersee was chosen as the outstanding female Summer Olympian of the century. During the 1992 Olympics, she followed up on her two track and field gold medals (heptathlon and long jump) from the previous Olympics by winning the gold in the seven-event heptathlon.

Beginning in 1994, the International Olympic Committee (the governing body of the Olympics) decided the Winter and Summer Olympics would no longer be held in the same year every four years, but would be staggered and held two years apart. The winter games were held that year in Lillehammer, Norway, and 1,217 male and 522 female athletes from 67 countries competed. Americans won six gold medals in essentially the same events as they had in 1992. Figure skater Nancy Kerrigan, who had been assaulted while preparing for the U.S. figure skating championships only a month earlier (her rival Tonya Harding was implicated in the affair), turned in a silver-medal performance. Another repeat performer from the 1992 Winter Olympics was Bonnie Blair, who was competing in her fourth Olympiad. Again, she won the women's 500-meter and 1,000-meter races, bringing her total number of Olympic victories to five. Fellow speed skater Dan Jansen took gold in the men's

1,000-meter race. In Alpine skiing, Tommy Moe won the men's downhill while Picabo (pronounced PEEK-ah-boo) Street took a silver medal in the women's event.

The 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, hosted 10,320 athletes (6,797 men and 3,523 women) from 197 countries. Tragedy struck the games when a homemade bomb exploded on July 27 in the Olympic Centennial Park, killing one woman and injuring 110. The games continued, following the precedent established by International Olympic Committee during the 1972 Summer Olympics, when eleven Israeli athletes were taken hostage and later murdered by terrorists, the games continued.

In the competition venues, U.S. athletes shone, winning forty-four gold, thirty-two silver, and twenty-five bronze medals. Probably the most thrilling American competitors were the members of the women's gymnastics team. Shannon Miller won the gold with her prowess on the beam, and the team won the gold medal with a gutsy performance, especially by the injured Kerri Strug, who made her last vault landing on a badly sprained ankle. In track-and-field events, Michael Johnson won both the men's 200- and 400-meter races, a first in Olympic history. Gail Devers won her second consecutive gold medal in the women's 100-meter race. And Carl Lewis won gold in the long jump, becoming only the fourth person in history ever to win the same individual event four times. The American women's swim team again dominated the pool, winning seven golds, five silvers, and three bronzes. The men's swim team was not far behind with thirteen total medals, six of them gold. The U.S. women's soccer team won their event, a prelude to winning the World Cup in 1999. Both victories gave women's athletics a boost in the United States.

The final Olympic games of the twentieth century were the 1998 Winter Olympics held in Nagano, Japan, with 1,488 male and 814 female athletes from 72 nations competing. Once again, the U.S. team won six gold medals in winter events. With professional hockey players allowed to compete for the first time, the U.S. team disappointed the country on and off the ice. They lost an important match to the Czech Republic four to one, then trashed three Olympic apartments in a display of unsportsman-like conduct. The women's hockey team redeemed the sport by winning the gold in their debut event. Skier Picabo Street returned to the podium, this time receiving the gold medal for her victory in the women's super giant slalom event. One delightful surprise was the gold medal performance of fifteen-year-old Tara Lipinski in women's figure skating. With her victory, she became the youngest champion in an individual event in the history of the Winter Olympics.