Sid Gordon broke into the Majors in 1941 with the New York "baseball" Giants, bounced back-and-forth between the minors, served for two years during World War II and then made it back to the big league club in 1946; and proceeded to put together a terrific career. In fact, from 1948 through 1952 he established himself as one of the game's best by averaging 27 home runs a year, over 97 RBI a year, and during that 5-year span he hit .292 with his high, for that stretch, coming in 1950 when he hit .304. Gordon was a Jeff McNeil type of ballplayer. He could play the infield (3B) or outfield and even asked to play catcher. Over the course of his career, he played 809 games in left, 454 at third, 108 in right, 42 at first, 6 in center and 3 at second base. He clubbed 202 home runs, knocked in 805 and had a career batting average of .283. Gordon, a favorite of Leo Durocher, was reluctantly traded by the Giants to the Braves prior to the 1950 season. The native of Brooklyn, New York, was the one player the Boston Braves wanted in exchange for Alvin Dark and Eddie Stanky - catalysts for the Giants 1951 run to the NL Pennant. And that's one of the knocks against Gordon's popularity. He never played for a championship. He languished on teams that were rarely in a pennant race. Nonetheless, Gordon still had a terrific career and on this episode of SFH, Steve Cahn, Gordon's young cousin, who also authored the book, "Sid Gordon, An American Baseball Story", joins to talk about Gordon's career.

He is the only quarterback - ever - to only play for 10 seasons and lead his team into the championship game every year of his career. He won the championship seven (7) times. And, yet, when the discussion about who is the greatest QB of all-time comes up, very few football fans mention the name Otto Graham. He played for the Cleveland Browns when they were "born" as an AAFC (All America Football Conference) team. The Browns, simply stated, were the best team in the league. In fact, Graham led the Browns to the AAFC title every year of the league's existence: 1946, 47, 48, 49. When the Browns (along with the San Francisco 49'ers and Baltimore Colts) moved into the NFL, most thought they had no chance to compete. Well, not only did the Browns compete, Graham led them to the NFL Championship in 1950. Graham played with the Browns, NFL-style, in 1950, 51, 52, 53, 54 and 55. He won the Championship withe Bowns three times. The four years he didn't win the Championship, the Browns made the title game, but lost. Graham won the NFL MVP in 1951, 1953 and 1955. In his six years in the NFL, he led the league in passing yards twice, QBR twice and completion percentage three times. Yet, Graham is one of the most overlooked superstars in the history of the game. On this episode of SFH, Ken Crippen from the Football Learning Academy, a football historian, author and expert on the AAFC joins the podcast as we discuss the career of Otto Graham and so much more.

In 1967, a new basketball league was born, the ABA (American Basketball Association) with teams in 11 cities including Indianapolis, Oakland, New Orleans, Denver and Dallas. The ABA also put a team in Pittsburgh, the Pipers. After a slow start, the Pipers got it going and twice won as many as 14 games in a row. In fact, the Pipers finished the season with a record of 54-24. They won the Eastern Conference and then worked their way through playoffs. In the first round, they swept the Indiana Pacers 3-0. In the Eastern Finals, they took out the Minnesota Muskies 4-1 and in the championship, in seven games, the Pipers outlasted the New Orleans Buccaneers 4-games-to-3. The Pipers were good. real good. In fact, they might have been good enough to qualify for the NBA playoffs. They were led by a budding superstar - Connie Hawkins. Blackballed by the NBA for his alleged involvement in a point shaving scandal, Hawkins was named the ABA's regualr season MVP and playoff's MVP. He averaged 26.8 ppg during the regular season and 29.9 ppg in the playoffs. Of course, later in hi career, he was finally granted entry into the NBA where he continued to excel and was ultimately elected into the Pro Basketball Hall of Fame. Back to the Pipers. Despite winning the East, the team's fanbase was minimal at best. So, the Pipers, after just one year in Pittsburgh, packed up and headed north to Minneapolis. The Muskies left for Florida. Ironically, the Muskies couldn't draw fans and the Pipers, after relocating to Minnesota, couldn't draw fans in Minneapolis either. So, they packed up and headed back to Pittsburgh. Without a doubt, the Pipers had quite a unique history and on this episode of Sports' Forgotten Heroes, basketball historian and author Mark Whited stops by for a lively discussion about the Pipers, the ABA and Connie Hawkins.