Boston Celtics Preseason Games

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After 10 years of researching Boston Celtics preseason games from 1947 through 1991, I am always surprised when I find a box score that is on my “missing” list. Recently, I found the box score for a game from October 2, 1971 against the Buffalo Braves in the Buffalo News (October 4 edition).

Therefore, it was time to post a new twelfth edition, now with 412 box scores out of a possible 426, and some changes/additions to box scores that have been included in past versions. The page below includes a list of all the changes.

Boston Celtics Preseason Games, 1946-1991

Note: I am still missing player stats for the following 14 games. There are also some other games where the score by quarters is missing, or the referees are not available, etc. This project will likely never end! (And I like it that way.)

10/13/1957 Celtics vs. New York Knicks at New Haven, CT
10/6/1959 Celtics vs. Minneapolis Lakers at Littleton, NH
10/7/1959 Celtics vs. Minneapolis Lakers at Windsor, VT
10/5/1962 Celtics vs. New York Knicks at White Plains, NY
10/6/1962 Celtics vs. New York Knicks at New Haven, CT
10/15/1962 Celtics vs. Detroit Pistons at Fort Wayne, IN
10/5/1963 Celtics vs. St. Louis Hawks at Ottumwa, Iowa
10/3/1964 Celtics vs. New York Knicks at White Plains, NY
10/2/1967 Celtics vs. Philadelphia 76ers at San Juan, PR
10/7/1967 Celtics vs. Chicago Bulls at East Chicago, IN
10/12/1968 Celtics vs. Detroit Pistons at Kalamazoo, MI
10/5/1969 Celtics vs. New York Knicks at Utica, NY
9/25/1971 Celtics vs. New York Knicks at Utica, NY
9/30/1971 Celtics vs. New York Nets (ABA) at Uniondale, NY

Bill Walton box scores at UCLA

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Bill Walton passed away on May 27, 2024 at the age of 71; he would have turned 72 on November 5. When examining Walton’s basketball career, it is tempting to focus on what could have been, to focus on the years lost to injuries and his acrimonious departures from Portland and Los Angeles.  But his accomplishments on the court should not be overlooked.

Walton’s truncated pro career included a few highlights (NBA title in 1977, NBA MVP award in 1978, Sixth Man of the Year award and a second NBA title in 1986) but paled in comparison with his basketball transcript at UCLA: two NCAA titles, three Final Four appearances, three-time consensus All-American, three-time UPI Player of the Year, two-time AP Player of the Year (losing out to David Thompson in 1974); averaged 20 points and 15 rebounds a game while playing under the watchful eye of the legendary John Wooden.

UCLA posted an 86-4 record during Walton’s three varsity seasons, including the majority of the Bruins’ record-setting 88-game winning streak. Walton played in 87 varsity games at UCLA, missing three during his senior season after a bad fall against Washington State. I was curious how UCLA fared during his absence, but was unable to find game logs or box scores online; the UCLA website contains box scores beginning with the 1974-75 season, too late to include Walton’s career.

So, I decided to find all of the box scores from Walton’s four years at UCLA, including his stint on the 1970-71 freshman team, plus that season’s varsity results in order to document the start of their 88-game streak. By the way, UCLA went 3-0 in Walton’s absence, and their winning streak came to an end when Walton returned to the lineup. You can read more about that in the game highlights that accompany each box score.

You can view the box scores by clicking here.

Bob Stanley = Iron Man

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Yes, that is a bit of hyperbole, but Red Sox pitcher Bob Stanley was durable enough over his career that he was able to start or relieve, and was able to pitch extended innings out of the bullpen. On May 22, 1983 Stanley pitched 10 innings in relief for the Red Sox, which was not that remarkable at the time given his track record. However, no other pitcher in major league baseball has pitched 10 innings in relief since then, so the performance has become memorable in hindsight.

I wrote about it for the SABR Games Project and it is now available online on their website.

May 22, 1983: Red Sox lose to Twins despite 10 innings of stellar relief by Bob Stanley

80s Era Part Fifteen – 1983-84 in Review

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The latest in a continuing series on the 1980s NBA, the 1983-84 Season Review section is now posted. The Boston Celtics win their 15th title (40 years ago), the Houston Rockets start rebuilding, the NBA coaching carousel hits a new gear, and more.

You can read the full series by visiting The 80s Era Plus 40 page.

I continue to experiment with Datawrapper, and used it to try to replicate a chart from the article that was originally created using Microsoft Excel. The Datawrapper layout is a little different, but I like it too.

Boston Celtics Preseason Games

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Today I posted a new edition (#11) of Barnstorming through New England: The Boston Celtics in the Preseason, 1946-1991. Thanks to the continued expansion of online newspaper archives, I was able to add 2 new box scores (10/3/1959 vs. Lakers, 10/5/1972 vs. Hawks/Maravich), to bring the total to 411 out of 426 exhibition games against pro competition from 1946 through 1991.

This edition also includes new sections containing 23 box scores for preseason games that the Celtics played against semi-pro or amateur teams, and intrasquad games that they played against themselves. Most are from the 1950’s.

There are also minor improvements to some box scores that were included in earlier editions, such as:

11/7/1947: score by periods now complete
10/11/1955: added FGA and FTA
10/10/1956: score by periods now complete
10/2/1971: score by periods more complete

80s Era Part Thirteen – The Boston Celtics: How They Were Built

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The latest in a continuing series. Red Auerbach drafts Larry Bird, trades for Robert Parish (and the pick that turned into Kevin McHale), swindles the Suns to acquire Dennis Johnson, and swaps Cedric Maxwell for Bill Walton. Boston had missed the playoffs two years in a row at the end of the 1970’s, but these moves like these resulted in three championships in six years during the early 1980’s.

You can read the full series by visiting The 80s Era Plus 40 page.

Updated Major League Baseball Umpire Info

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As I wrote last month, I wrote a python script that uses the Retrosheet Event and Box Score Event files to build spreadsheets that include all of the umpire info for each game during one or more seasons. Output can be filtered by team and game location.

Retrosheet recently released their “Fall 2023 Update” on December 6, so I re-ran the script against the new data files, and the script still works well.

The script and sample output files are available in GitHub: https://github.com/mhamel12/RetrosheetUmpires

Bill Byron, George Hildebrand, Bill Klem, Bill Dinneen
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-B2- 3260-2 [P&P]
https://www.loc.gov/item/2014697771/

Major League Baseball Umpire Info

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Recently, while working on a project, I needed to find a list of all umpires who worked behind the plate at Boston Red Sox games at Fenway Park during a specific season. Retrosheet has umpire game logs on their site, which show all of the games worked by an umpire during a season. But I needed a list I could filter by team and game location.

I wrote a python script that uses the Retrosheet Event and Box Score Event files to build spreadsheets that include all of the umpire info for each game during one or more seasons. Since the Retrosheet files are organized by decade, the script can process a set of files and produce a single output file in .csv format that can easily be saved in Excel (.xlsx) or other spreadsheet formats.

The script and sample output files are available in GitHub: https://github.com/mhamel12/RetrosheetUmpires

The Brady Years

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Now that Tom Brady’s NFL career has come to an end, it is time for a look back. His record-setting career was defined by an unprecedented seven Super Bowl titles and his longevity: 23 seasons as an NFL quarterback, 22 as a starter. Brady was selected in the NFL Draft in 2000, yet continued to play through 2022, outlasting all of his fellow draftees.

In honor of Brady’s retirement, here are two recaps of his career, first as a series of 12 charts, and a set of 12 drive charts that illustrate 12 of his greatest games.