Early agate
ON THIS DATE
Aug. 24
1968 – The rookie-laden Cincinnati Bengals defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers 19-3 in an exhibition game before 11,500 in Morgantown, W.Va. Though only a preseason game, it’s the first victory for the Bengals, an expansion AFL franchise.
1972 – Don Dusky steals second base and races home with the game-winning run on two throwing errors as Washington defeats Honolulu 3-2 in 13 innings at the Pony League World Series. The night’s games draw a World Series record 10,487 fans to Washington Park.
1984 – Dave Parker bounces a single up the middle in the seventh inning for Cincinnati’s only hit off Pittsburgh’s Jose DeLeon, but the Reds beat the Pirates 2-0. DeLeon takes a perfect game into the seventh.
1987 – Mike Scrip resigns as Peters Township High School’s head football coach. He is replaced by John Fabian, a long-time assistant with the Indians.
1989 – After six months of denial, defense and delay, Cincinnati manager Pete Rose was banned for life from baseball by commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti for gambling. Rose, baseball’s all-time hit leader and holder of 19 major-league records, signs a five-page agreement with Giamatti in which he agreed to a lifetime penalty but did not admit to gambling on baseball.
2006 – Detroit’s Sean Casey probably becomes the first player in baseball history to ground out to left field. The unique 5-7-3 play is the result of Casey starting to head back to the dugout, believing he was robbed of a hit, when the ball actually glanced off Chicago White Sox third baseman Joe Crede’s glove, reaching left fielder Pablo Ozuna, whose throw to first base just beats Casey to the bag.