Trivia

Q: Penn State football's four-year postseason ban, handed out Monday by the NCAA, is the longest by that organization in over 50 years. Name the last school similarly sanctioned.

A.: Indiana University football was hit with a four-year ban by the NCAA in 1960, resulting from violations that included free plane tickets for several athletes, financial stiplends and cash payments. IU denied the charges, attributing them to overzealous alumni.The program didn't recover until 1968, when the Hoosiers went 9-2 with a Big Ten co-championship and trip to the Rose Bowl.

Today in …

1962 – Red Sox pitcher Gene Conley and infielder Pumpsie Green mysteriously disappear after stepping off the tam bus while it is stopped in traffic on the way to Newark Airport following a 13-3 loss to the Yankees in New York. Conley is despondent after giving up eight runs in 2-2/3 innings during the defeat.. Green returns to the club the next day in Washington. Conley decides to go to the Holy Land and calls Israeli Airlines to make a reservation for Tel Aviv and heads for Idlewild (present-day JFK) Airport. When he gets to the ticket desk, he can't purchase a ticket because he doesn't have a passport. Conley returns to the Hotel Commodore in Manhattan, where he is met by his wife and children, who traveled from Boston to persuade him to return to the team. Conley does so on July 30 and is fined $2,000 by the club. He finishes the 1962 season with a record of 15-14.

Birthdays

Braves infielder Sibby Sisti, born 1920. Giants knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm, born 1922.