1973 - Baseball and Music

Jane Ann McLachlan had this great idea for a blog challenge for the month of October to do one day for each of the first 25 years of your life.  This is the 10th installment. 

In 1973 the Dow closes at 850 
Inflation was at 6.16%
Average cost of a new house: $32,500
Average income: $12,900
Gasoline: $0.40 a gallon, back down fifteen cents
Movie ticket: $1.50

Hugo for best SF Novel goes to Isaac Asimov for The Gods Themselves.

Schoolhouse Rock appears, loved those little vignettes.

Watergate trial begins.

Offensive action against North Vietnam is suspended.

The first Designated Hitter is signed by the Red Sox.  Boo!

First Kiss concert.


Cease fire signed with North Vietnam.  Draft ends.

Senate names members to investigate the Watergate scandal.

First POWs released from North Vietnam.  All remaining troops leave South Vietnam.

Skylab is launched.

During Watergate hearings, Butterfield reveals existence of secret White House tapes, which Nixon refuses to release.

“Smoke on the Water” is released by Deep Purple.  My friend Jonno, from up the hill, learned to play the opening chords to this song on his brother’s guitar and I thought that was super cool.

Star Trek-Animated premieres on TV.  Loved this!  I was watching reruns of the original series whenever I could find them.

Yom Kippur War begins with Syria and Egypt attacking Israel.

Spiro Agnew pleads no contest to tax evasion and resigns as Vice President, Gerald Ford replaces him.

OPEC decrees an oil embargo against countries supporting Israel, which lasts 5 months.  It sparks a worldwide recession.

Israel is victorious in Yom Kippur War, fighting ends in late October.

Nixon finally releases Watergate tapes.

Alaska oil pipeline is authorized.

Nixon makes his infamous, “I am not a crook,” speech.

National Speed limit reduced to 55 MPH as an energy conservation measure.

The Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) is designed, but would not become the standard until 1983.

As you can see 1973 was busy, but was really a set-up for events that would cascade into the following year and create major problems. For me, it is the spring that I start playing Little League Baseball. I was never all that good, but I was lucky to be on some good teams. My team won the league for four consecutive years. I was afraid of the ball, and getting hit in the nose playing catch with my Mom’s boyfriend didn’t help any.

In the fall I start 4^th Grade, and Mrs. Law is my teacher. I remember her for music. We had to learn the recorder that year, but we also learned the ukulele and she even got us booked onto a local television show to play live. We practiced a whole lot of Hawaiian stuff for the show, but I got sick and missed the performance. I think Mrs. Law had a minor in music and she played a Boogie song she wrote in college for the piano. It was pretty good from what I remember. Not following through with playing an instrument is one of my biggest regrets. I had very little interest in music back then, which I cannot fathom now.

Clear Ether!