While the first successful moon walk was underway on Sunday July 19, 1969 at 4:17 PM EDT; as is the case with every other Sunday in July, a full schedule of Major League baseball games was being played.
In the Bronx, the Yankees and the Senators were all tied at 2-2, in the 8th inning, when announcer Bob Sheppard told the 34,000 fans in attendance (who couldn’t give up seeing two mediocre teams play a meaningless game, rather than staying at home to watch a momentous event on TV) “You will be happy to know that Apollo 11 has landed safely.”
Not everyone was watching television at the time. In ten cities across the country, major league baseball games were scheduled, including five double-headers. The games did not all start at the same time, though, so the moon landing hit them all differently. In Seattle, for example:
“…pregame ceremonies before an American League baseball game between the hometown Pilots and the Minnesota Twins were interrupted by an announcement of the moon walk. The fans cheered, stood up and sang ‘America the Beautiful.'”
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