EDITOR’S NOTE: A version of this article ran here at BCB 10 years ago on the 40th anniversary of this event. Lightly edited, and with some new information added, I thought you’d like to read it again on the 50th anniversary.
It was a Sunday that began as any other baseball day at Dodger Stadium. The Cubs, who would wind up with their second straight 87-loss season that year, entered that afternoon with a 6-7 record. The Dodgers, who eventually finished second in the NL West with 92 wins, were 4-9.
The game between the Dodgers and Cubs had no baseball out of the ordinary. The Cubs came from behind in the eighth inning to tie the contest only to lose in extra innings, 5-4.
But it was what happened in the Dodger Stadium outfield in the fourth inning that day that will make this particular game forever remembered. Richard Dozer, recapping that day’s game in the Tribune, described Monday’s save:
Monday explained his role in the chase for the flag with more clarity than anything else discussed in the clubhouse.
”I saw these clowns come out on the field, and I didn’t know what they were doing. I thought they were just out there to prance around,” he recalled.
”But then they spread the flag out like a picnic blanket. I was just going to run them over until I saw them with the can of lighter fluid. I could see they were going to try to burn it.”
After Monday raced in front of left fielder [José] Cardenal and grabbed the flag, he gave it to a security man. The demonstrators were taken to a nearby police station. It was reported they were American Indians, and one of them said something about “squatters” taking over the country. This could not be verified.
One was identified as William Thomas, 37. He gave Eldon, Mo. as his hometown. The other was not identified because police said he was a juvenile, but was reportedly Thomas’ 11-year-old son.
A few days later, the Los Angeles Times reported that Thomas had done this to call attention to what he claimed was his wife’s “imprisonment” in a Missouri mental institution. Here’s a 2016 article from Vice that gives more detail on Thomas and his family, along with a lot of detail about the incident and its aftermath.
Here’s some video of what happened, with the call of the legendary Vin Scully:
The actual flag that was saved is shown in the photo at the top of this post. That photo was taken at an event Monday attended in 2006 on the 30th anniversary of the occasion. In 2013, the Dodgers issued a bobblehead commemorating this event, complete with cloth flag:
I wasn’t in Los Angeles for this giveaway, but as many of you know, I collect bobbleheads. I had to have that one, so I bought one via eBay. The photo above is of my actual bobblehead. Meanwhile, the original flag is headed to Cooperstown this summer:
Monday, who played eight years for the Dodgers after the Cubs sent him there in the deal that brought Bill Buckner to the Cubs and hit a famous home run that put the Dodgers into the 1981 World Series, has been a Dodgers broadcaster for the last 31 years.
A final note on this: I am posting this today simply to note the 50th anniversary of this event, a notable event in Cubs and baseball history. It obviously can have political implications. I make no comment on that and remind everyone here of the site rules prohibiting political commentary. Thanks in advance for keeping the comments here related to baseball.
Rick Monday saved an American flag from burning 50 years ago today, Sunday, April 25, 1976.
