1973 Play-by-Play

January 16th, Dr. Death kicked off the scoring with a six-point solo on gospel singer Clara Ward, and took the lead, his accustomed position... Jan. 22nd, nine gamesters chanted "All the Way with LBJ" as they scored four on former President Lyndon B. Johnson. Leading the way and moving to 10 points was Dr. Death... Jan. 26th, G. Conway and J.C. Hoffmeier scored three on actor Edward G. Robinson, as Conway moved to seven points and mounted a challenge to Dr. Death... Jan. 28th, J. Smoke and his sibling B. McArdle tallied four points on actor John Banner; the hit gave Smoke eight points as he edged towards the leader.

February 22nd, a four-point solo on Arkansas Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller gave Dr. Death some breathing room and lifted his score to 14.

March 6th, seven scored on novelist Pearl S. Buck. Dr. Death tallied two and moved to 16, but B. McArdle gained ground as he tallied his Wild Card for five... Mar. 12th, Binky Brown soloed for six on a Lutheran leader, the Rev. Kent Knudsen. The hit moved Bink to 12 as he applied pressure to the leader, but it came to be known as the Pandora's Box hit, as the definition of fame was stretched to include those "famous in their field."

April 8th, Pablo Picasso put down his brushes and nine gamesters offered to clean them for one point. Binky Brown moved to 13 and J. Basal scored his Wild Card... Apr. 26th, J. Smoke soloed for three on actress Irene Ryan, moving to 14 and sending a chill up Dr. Death's spine; it was Smoke's fifth hit, and won him the Silver Bobcat for 1973.

May 18th, W. Krug soloed for one on suffragette Jeanette Rankin, the kind of hit that earned him his reputation as a savant of the obscurely famous... May 21st, J. Corrigan soloed on singer and band leader Vaughn Monroe for four points.

July 2nd, rookie D. Perriman Jr. pinned up a solo on actress Betty Grable for five points... July 6th, W. Krug tallied a solo deuce on actor Joe E. Brown. (This jolted G. Conway who had been awarded points for Joe E. Brown in 1971, perhaps on the death of comedian Joe E. Lewis or British flyweight Jackie Brown, one of the many reason we now require printed obits rather than mere hearsay.)... July 11th, Binky Brown and G. Conway scored four on actor Robert Ryan. The hit gave Binky Brown the lead at 17 points, wrestling the top spot away from Dr. Death for the first time in 18 months... Bink's elation, however, was to be short-lived. July 23rd, Dr. Death scored the Game's first Wild Card Solo, on Eddie Rickenbacher, spiraling up to 21 points and returning to the lead.

August 1st, Binky Brown scored two on East German leader Walter Ulbricht, but so did Dr. Death, moving to 23 points... August 31st, D. Perriman Jr. scored a three-point solo on film director John Ford, but the scorekeepers didn't notice. (In 1991, the points and solo went into the career standings.)

September 11th, J. DeGeorge and B. McArdle scored four on Chile's Salvadore Allende, dying in a coup... Sept. 28th, the same pair combined for four each on essayist and poet W. H. Auden.

October 2nd, the Flying Finn, runner Paavo Nurmi, crossed the big finish line and Dr. Death was there for a three-point solo, moving smoothly to 26 points... Oct. 22nd, nine applauded politely at cellist Pablo Casal's swan song, most for one point, but J. Buffalo and J. DeGeorge tallied five each with Wild Cards.

November 17th, Dr. Death hit a long one down the center of the fairway, a five-point solo on golfer Lloyd Mangrum, moving to 31 points... Nov. 25th, D. Perriman Jr. scored his third solo of the year, six points on actor Laurence Harvey.

December 1st, Binky Brown and G. Murphy scored two on Israel's founder, David Ben-Gurion... Dec. 20th, rookie D. Perriman Jr. hit his fourth solo, a shocker on singer Bobby Darin, dying during heart surgery, for seven points.

And so it ended, with Dr. Death at 31 & 8, nine points ahead of Binky Brown.

Let's look at the Top Ten for 1973.

Take me on to 1974.

Take me back to Play-by-Play.