Summer of '69: A snooze in Philly

This is a remarkably rich anniversary summer. Even now, from the distance of 40 years, 1969's seems a little unreal. There was simply too much jaw-dropping news to digest:

Man on the moon, Woodstock, the Manson murders, Chappaquiddick, disclosure of the My Lai massacre, secret Vietnam peace talks, Hurricane Camille.

Anyway, remembering all those monumental events got me thinking about sports. While our attention was fixed on outer space and spaced-out hippies, what was going on in life's toy department that summer of '69?

Unfortunately, not much in Philly.

The Phillies

Much like their ballpark's neighborhood, the team was deteriorating rapidly. Gene Mauch was gone. Bob Skinner wouldn't last the summer. Johnny Callison was in his final Phillies season. Chris Short would pitch just 10 innings. But this was the summer of Dick Allen. Allen wanted out, a yearning he occasionally scrawled in the dirt near first base and one that would be granted at season's end. He was acting out, downing a few beers before arriving at the ballpark, or showing up late for workouts and sometimes games. Fans booed him mercilessly. Some threw garbage on his lawn. Not surprisingly, in the NL East's inaugural season, the Phils finished fifth, 36 games under .500, 37 games behind the seven-year-old Miracle Mets. Only 519,914 witnessed the misery at Connie Mack Stadium.

The Eagles

Training camp at Albright College in Reading was the first for new owner Leonard Tose, GM Pete Retzlaff, and coach Jerry Williams. No one can recall whether that was the summer defensive end Tim Rossovich set himself on fire, rode a motorcycle off a pier, dove naked into a birthday cake, or ate a beer stein. They do recall that those Eagles would go 4-9-1. Leroy Keyes, the Purdue back Philadelphia took with its No. 1 pick after missing out on O.J. Simpson, was impressing no one en route to being converted into a defensive back.

The Sixers

Not much to be excited about here, either. When training camp opened, Wilt Chamberlain was no longer around. Even though Wilt had won the last three MVP awards, GM/coach Jack Ramsay traded him to the Lakers for Archie Clark, Darrall Imhoff, and Jerry Chambers. Billy Cunningham and Hal Greer couldn't score enough to make the season interesting. The Sixers would finish at 42-40 and were knocked out of the playoffs in five games by Milwaukee.

The Flyers