'Tails' comes up money for the Babe, Wife Swap circa 1973, and Mike Bossy scored 50 ... again! - This DiSH for March 5

And welcome back to this dish, a member of the Sports History Network where you could

find more podcasts, more info at sportshistorynetwork.com.

It is March 5th and on this day, we had Tails paying off big for the babe, love American

style in 1973, and the boss did it again in New York.

Those stories plus a non-sports fun fact at the end about Tootsie Rolls.

I'll get started right after this.

That's the end of the first half, as the teams head to the locker room, the Spartans

lead the Bulldogs by a score.

You guys stink.

Jeez, Coach, we're only down a couple of points.

No, I mean, you guys really smell.

You need to hit the showers.

And here, I got every one of you new bars of soap from the Sterling soap company.

Each bar is artisan crafted using natural ingredients and essential oils.

They also have shaved soaps, cologne, beard, balm, and a whole lot more.

Now get in there.

Coach, we have another half to play.

I don't care.

I can't stand to be around you.

A few minutes later.

All right, bring it in tight.

You guys are still playing terrible, but you're smelling great out there.

Now listen, you're going to need to stock up for the rest of the season.

We got a lot of tough games left.

So go to sterlingsoap.com after the game.

That's STIRLINGSOAP.com.

You got that?

Yes, Coach?

Great.

Sterlingsoap.com on three.

One, two, three.

Sterling soap?

Sterlingsoap.com.

So let's start with what happened on this day in 1922 when Babe Ruth won a coin flip

that put a whole lot more money in his pocket.

So the Babe and New York Yankees co-owner, Colonel Tilling-Aced Houston,

had been engaging in a long negotiation about Ruth's next contract.

His previous contract signed in his final year as a member of the Boston Red Sox

had paid him $10,000 a year.

Ruth had just had his best season, leading the league in just about every offensive category.

He hit 59 home runs in 1921,

for the next closest being his Yankee teammate, Bob Musil, with 24.

He led the league in RBI, run scored, slugging percentage,

and he had a war of 12.5.

But if you're not familiar with the war stat, anything eight or above is considered exceptional.

So he'd had a great year.

And Ruth, maybe the first ball player that really knew his worth and knew he had the leverage to get paid.

The two were in Hot Springs, Arkansas, at the Eastman Hotel.

And while they were in the same ballpark, figuratively speaking here,

they were still at an impasse.

The Yankees were offering a substantial raise and willing to pay him $50,000 a year for three seasons

with an option for two more years.

Ruth wanted $52,000 for three seasons, but did not want the option to be added.

Back and forth they went until Ruth said,

Colonel, I tell you what, let's flip a coin for it and end this thing.

Houston did not hate the idea, but he did need to get the okay from his business partner, Jacob Rupert.

Rupert agreed and Houston flipped a silver half dollar in the air.

Ruth yelled, Tails, the coin hit the carpet, rolled under a chair, tails up.

The Colonel shook Ruth's hand and said,

that ends it babe, glad you're a Yankee for the next three years.

But not only was Ruth the highest paid athlete on the planet at this point,

making a $1,000 a week, he also would get a $500 bonus for each home run he belted.

Ruth hit 35 homeers in 1922 for an extra $17,500 in his pocket.

Of course, that fall off from the 59 homeers he had in 1921 to the 35 he had in 1922

was largely due to the six weeks he had to sit out serving a suspension handed down

by Kennesaw Mountain Landis for his unauthorized barnstorming tour he'd done

after the 1921 World Series.

Let's keep it in the Yankee family for this next story, and this is a doozy.

On this day in 1973, it was one of the more interesting trades in history.

But this trade was not between two teams.

It was between two players on the same team.

And the trade had actually been made the summer before.

But it didn't come to light until this day in 1973.

And it was so unusual that it made national headlines at the time.

This was not one player swapping a jersey number with another guy because he had some superstition.

Instead, it was a wife swap.

Wait a second.

It was more like a family trade, really.

The two players were New York Yankees, Pitchers, Mike Keckich and Fritz Peterson.

The two guys along with their wives had been friends for about three years before this all came together.

Everybody knew everybody and got along.

Keckich was the first to bring up the subject at a party in July 1972.

When he told Peterson that he loved Peterson's wife, Marilyn, more than his own.

Keckich had already told his wife, Suzanne, the same thing.

The four of them talked into the night long after most everybody else had gone home from this party.

And all four agreed and the men traded their wives, kids, and even their dogs.

In essence, their entire lives.

So how did things turn out?

Did the two guys go on a tear after the trade?

Not so much.

Peterson had actually been an all-star in 1970, winning 20 games and had just 117 in 1972.

But in 73, Peterson went into the tank, winning just eight and losing 15.

His ERA was a respectable 3.96 though.

One telling stat is that in the previous four years,

he'd led the American League for the least walks per game.

In 73, he did not, and his number of walks per start jumped.

Peterson was traded to Cleveland in 74.

Keckich was used as both a starter and reliever.

In 1973, he started just four games for the Yankees,

going one and one before being traded also to Cleveland midway to the season.

In life, the marriage between Keckich and his new wife, Marilyn, did not last very long.

They were divorced after a few years and Keckich retired to New Mexico.

But for Fritz and his new wife, Suzanne,

they enjoyed their time together up until Fritz's death last April.

The story was at one time headed to the big screen with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon producing.

But that project appears to be on the shelf for now.

The movie had a working title of The Trade.

But Keckich vehemently opposed the project.

While Damon and Affleck were set to continue moving forward,

Keckich convinced many of his old teammates to not participate in the project.

And so, the project was eventually dropped.

Also on this day in 1931, Fort Wayne's WGL Radio

broadcast the first game of the American Basketball League's championship series

between the Brooklyn Visitations and the Fort Wayne Hoosiers.

It was the first live radio broadcast of a basketball game.

And it's kind of amazing that there was ever a second game on radio

with how this game went.

The final score was 14-10 in favor of Brooklyn.

And on this day in 1985, New York Islander Mike Bossy scored his 50th goal of the year

becoming the first NHL player to score 50 goals in eight straight seasons.

It came in a 5-4 OT loss to the Flyers, though.

He would finish with 58 that season and come back the next year and make it

nine straight years with 50 plus goals.

And time now for today's that's got nothing to do with sports.

Fun fact, you know, I can't say that Tutsi roles have ever been one of my favorite

candies. They're fine, but maybe if I had known how useful they can be,

I would have appreciated them a little bit more.

One story from the Korean War recalls a point when a U.S.

serviceman tried to order more mortar ammunition using the code word Tutsi roles during his

request. Well, it seems like the guy on the receiving end was not up on the code and did not

realize that Tutsi roles was the code word for mortar ammunition. Instead, he sent literal

Tutsi roles to the frontline unit. While a good number of them were consumed for some energy,

several were heated up and used the plug bullet holes in their jeeps.

That's all for today. Come on back tomorrow for another edition of This Day in Sports History.

This has been an original Thrive Suite production.