1980 Play-by-Play

January

January 1st, a new decade opened with a bang as C. Perriman, daughter of D. Perriman Jr., and the Game's first third-generation gamester, soloed for two points on statesman Pietro Nenni and tied Dr. Death's Game record for the earliest Opening Day... For eight days she luxuriated in the lead, until five gamesters tallied five each on clown Jack Thum. Wearing big red noses were Binky Brown, J. Corrigan, Mort U. Airy, D. Perriman Sr. and The Register... Next day, sixty (60) laborites led by Binky Brown, J. Corrigan, D. Perriman Sr. and The Register marched for George Meany. (Most scored two points but six went Wild for five, including D. Hillmann who assured herself a place in Game folklore by calling to ask if her hit on Meany had been a solo. In later years, she would swear she was kidding, but no one believed her, then or now.) And the lead was now held at seven points by Brown, Corrigan, Perriman Sr. and The Register... Jan. 13th, Mullen's Revenge shared something of her musical tastes with a three-point solo on Andre Kostelanetz... Jan. 15th, C. Perriman showed that the acorn doesn't fall far from the tree as she hit her second solo of the month, this one a three-pointer on anthropologist Robert Ardrey, and tied the leaders at seven points!... Jan. 18th, the great, great Morbo Chucks soloed for three on stylist Sir Cecil Beaton... Jan. 19th, Binky Brown, J. Corrigan, D. Perriman Sr. and The Register led 43 in scoring two on the Supreme Court's William O. Douglas and raised the ante for the lead to nine points... Jan. 28th, Binky Brown, J. Corrigan and D. Perriman Sr. led 32 in scoring two points on actor and entertainer Jimmy Durante, and raised the ante to 11 points, leaving The Register behind... Jan. 30th, Igor played a rollin' four-point solo on another piano man, the legendary Professor Longhair.

February '80

February 12th, The Finalists soloed for four on poet Muriel Rukeyser... Feb. 19th, B. Hamilton tallied a solo three on ESP researcher J. B. Rhine... Feb. 20th, all three Perrimans led 10 in scoring one point on Washington's Alice Roosevelt Longworth, whose sofa sported a throw pillow with the embroidered words, "If you haven't got anything nice to say, come over here and sit by me." Rising to the lead at 12 points was D. Perriman Sr. Taking the lead in career points with 198 was D. Perriman Jr. And scoring her Wild Card and tying her grandfather for the lead at 12 was C. Perriman!... Feb. 22nd, Dupont Fluvius rounded out the month with a solo ace on artist Oscar Kokashka.

March '80

March 5th, four scored four on actor Jay Silverheels. Honoring Tonto were S. Donovan, the Ostwalds, D. Trageser and the Tulsa Tigers... Same day, M. Stark scored a two-point solo on Winifred Wagner... Mar. 17th, Mullen's Revenge was back with a three-point solo on psychologist Erich Fromm... Mar. 21st, Binky Brown soloed for four on mobster Angelo Bruno, retired by a single shotgun blast to the head, and returned Bink to the lead at 15 points in dramatic fashion! Same day, Ghostwriter scored the third Wild Card Solo of his career on French textile magnate Marcel Boussac... Mar. 23rd, Binky Brown made a big move to the hoop as he led seven in scoring eight on basketball player Phil Scaffidi. The jam shattered the glass and moved Bink to 23 points. Picking up on Bink's air of confidence, his wife G. Conway noted, "He'll run out of gas in June. He always does." To which Dr. Death added, "He'll collapse." And the grace note came from the Game Gazette editor, who said, "I think he's shot his wad.".. Mar. 26th, The Catalan Caller tagged a four-point solo on philosopher Roland Barthes... Mar. 28th, J. Batterson, the Flurds and P. & E. Hepner scored four each on singer Dick Haymes... Mar. 30th, the great, great Morbo Chucks scored a solo ace on Vietnamese patriot Ton Doc Thang... Mar. 31st, six gamesters, including sprinters Danse Macabre, Dr. Doornail and C. Stanley, broke the tape with a four-pointer on track great Jessie Owens.

April '80

April 3rd, Mullen's Revenge was back with yet another solo, this one her Wild Card (the second Wild Card Solo of her career) on former Supreme Court Justice Stanley Reed... Apr. 15th, the Game grew darkly philosophical as Binky Brown led 22 seekers in scoring three on Jean-Paul Sartre, and rose to 26 points... Apr. 25th, soloist M. Stark was back with an ace on Katia Mann... Apr. 29th, 49 gamesters were scared to death by a two-point hit on director Alfred Hitchcock.

May '80

May 4th, Binky Brown led 38 well-regimented gamesters in scoring two on Yugoslav strongman Marshall Tito. The hit moved him and the lead to 28 points... May 8th, five scored three on Arthur Levitt... May 11th, Phaedrus soloed on humanist philosopher Howard Mumford Jones for two points... May 20th, J. Batterson soloed for two on actress Ida Kaminska... May 24th, Binky Brown led 23 gamesters in scoring five points on KCIA Director Kim Jae Kyu, executed for his part in the assassination of Park Chung Hee the previous year. The points moved Brown and the lead to 33 points, and it wasn't even June yet.

June '80

June 1st, the great, great Morbo Chucks soloed for one on Hall of Fame pitcher Rube Marquard... June 7th, 16 gamesters caught reading under the pillow tallied two on "Tropic of Cancer" author Henry Miller... June 12th, four limped in with three points on "Gunsmoke" actor Milburn Stone... June 24th, the great, great Morbo Chucks and J. Smoke scored six each on Orville Kelly, founder of "Make Today Count" and the National Association of Atomic Veterans... June 28th, four lists tallied three on politician Helen Gahagan Douglas and M. Hamilton went Wild for five... Same day, J. Batterson, Cat Soup and W. Dockum tallied two on actor Jose Iturbi.

July '80

July 1st, Sue Aside and B. Hamilton scored three on C. P. Snow, who sought to bring science and the arts together... July 4th, B. Dodge soloed for three on anthropologist Gregory Bateson... July 13th, Dodge was back with D. Heath in a duet on Seretse Khama, president of Botswana... July 23rd, 13 scored five on actor Peter Sellers... July 27th, 72 scored on The Shah of Iran, the Game's new Top Pop Pick. Binky Brown led the way and rose to 37 points.

August '80

August 1st, French rookie The Catalan Caller scored a sudden seven on racing driver Patrick Depailler, crashing while training for the German Gran Prix... Aug. 9th, D. Perriman Sr. scored a two-point solo on actor Elliott Nugent, remembered for "Never Say Die" (1939) with Andy Devine... Aug. 19th, The Flurds and Dupont Fluvius tallied one each on Otto Frank... Aug. 27th, L. Lantz, The God-Father-in-Law (of D. Perriman Jr., D. Beach and W. Dockum), tallied a fine four-point solo on humorist Sam Levenson.

September '80

September 3rd, W. "The Caller" Krug scored a beautiful three-point solo on childhood hero Duncan Renaldo, "The Cisco Kid."... Sept. 16th, Dr. Doornail, B. Hamilton and The Register scored two each on developmental psychologist Jean Piaget... Same day, 10 points were awarded to Dr. Death's gifted sibling, Pearl E. Gates, for War/El Salvador... Sept. 17th, a bazooka beauty -- former Nicaraguan despot Anastasio Somoza Debaye was taken out by his enemies and P. & E. Hepner led 15 gamesters in scoring; they used the five points to explode into a tie for the lead with Binky Brown at 37 points!... Next day, J. Schinto Wild Carded author Katherine Anne Porter; picking up one point were the great, great Morbo Chucks, Mullen's Revenge and Pontius... Sept. 22, J. Batterson soloed on Hollywood's Lou Holtz... Sept. 25th, D. Hillmann got that solo she'd wanted on George Meany, this time on Lewis Milestone, famed director of "All Quiet on the Western Front," "Of Mice and Men" and "Ocean's Eleven."

October '80

October 3rd, D. Perriman Sr. continued to pile up the hits and solos with an ace on legendary Hollywood producer Sol Lesser... Oct. 24th, Capital District Memorials, the great, great Morbo Chucks and D. Trageser tallied four each on Nazi bad boy Gustav Franz Wagner. A quiet month in all, with Binky Brown and the Hepners remaining tied at 37-37.

November '80

November 2nd, Binky Brown took command, scoring three on bank robber Willie Sutton and moving to 40 points and sole possession of the lead! B. Hamilton also took home a share of the Sutton loot... Nov. 4th, Dr. Doornail and LLL's scored seven points each on politician Tony Oliveri... Nov. 7th, a great hit on actor Steve McQueen. Leaping the barbed wire with five points were Boris, W. Krug, Lord & Lady Hippo, B. Rounds, S. Silino, Skul and L. Smith... Nov. 18th, J. Batterson scored a solo two on hockey's Conn Smythe... Nov. 22nd, actress Mae West graced 33 admirers with two points, and Rep. John W. McCormack did likewise for 11 gamesters. Picking up the Daily Double were Cat Soup, the great, great Morbo Chucks, Mullen's Revenge and C. Tremper. Next day, seven more scored two on actor George Raft; no one had all three. The Mae West points, however, did lift P. & E. Hepner to within one of the leader at 39... Nov. 30th, e. mcgrath and D. Hillmann scored two on Dorothy Day, crusader for social justice.

December '80

December 2nd, M. Stark soloed on Oswald Mosely for two... And then, the hit nobody wanted, low tide in the Game: Dec. 7th, Montressor and Mr. Clete's Fan Club (from which one member later became The Merry Little Breezes) scored six on Beatle John Lennon, shot dead by a deranged fan outside New York's Dakota apartment building... Dec. 14th, four Yankee fans scored five on Elston Howard... Dec. 16th, 22 asked for Original Recipe and got it, plus one point on Col. Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame... Dec. 19th, a huge Daily Double: Russian leader Alexi Kosygin and Hector Campora for three each. Picking up three on Hector, Binky Brown, moving to 43 points and clinching victory. Picking up six and moving to 41, D. Trageser, in a huge power move that almost spelled victory. Also going for two hits in one day: B. Dodge, Dupont Fluvius, the great, great Morbo Chucks (with their second Daily Double in less than a month!), D. Perriman Jr., and G. Reaper closing in a big way to take Rookie of the Year... Dec. 21st, J. Batterson and Mullen's Revenge dueted for one point on playwright and director Marc Connally; for Batterson, it meant coming this close to tying Dr. Death's single season record of five solos, as the New York Times year-end sports section had revealed Batterson's hit on baseball great Ernie Shore for two points, and a total of four solos for 1980. But not #5, as Mullen's Revenge stepped in for her share... Dec. 29th, M. Stark soloed, as was her way, on Nadezhda Mandelstam... Dec. 31st, at the wire, Sue Aside, B. Hamilton and D. Perriman Sr. scored one on director Raoul Walsh, and Smith & Smith soloed on baseball's Bob Shawkey for one.

And what a year it was, with wall-to-wall hits, a thrilling display of stamina from the eventual victor, Binky Brown, and a host of fabulous performances.

Let's look at the Top Ten for 1980.

Take me on to 1981.

Take me back to Play-by-Play.