Robert MacNeil, of “The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour” fame. NYT (archived).
On the eve of his retirement from the broadcast in October 1995 to concentrate on writing, he was asked why TheMacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour gave “very little coverage” to the O.J. Simpson story.
“We don’t normally cover big murder stories, for one thing … It is inconceivable to me that a generation ago, NBC News and CBS News would night after night have said to their audience, ‘This is the most important thing that happened in the world today,’ by leading with Simpson and coming back to it later in the program,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “What’s interesting to me is how frightened the mainstream media are of the tabloid shows and the new networks.”
He was also in the motorcade when JFK was shot.
Eleanor Coppola. NYT (archived). IMDB.
Fritz Peterson, Yankees pitcher and baseball footnote.
The southpaw was traded to Cleveland ahead of the 1974 season, ending his pinstripes tenure after nine seasons, going 109-106 with a 3.10 ERA — and an original Yankee Stadium-record 2.52 ERA in home games.
He last pitched for the Rangers in the 1976 season, accumulating a 133-131 record with a 3.30 ERA and seven seasons of 12-plus wins.
He was also involved in the strangest trade in baseball history.
Mike Kekich and Fritz Peterson were friends. They hung out together with their wives. One thing led to another, and this was the 1970s…
On March 4, 1973, the ballplayers held separate press conferences to announce they’d swapped wives, kids and even their dogs — a tale the likes of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck once hoped to turn into a movie.
“Actually, it was a husband trade — Mike for me or me for Mike,” Peterson said. “It’s a love story. It wasn’t anything dirty.”
Fritz Peterson and Susanne, Kekich’s wife, married a year later. As far as I can tell, they stayed married. Mike Kekich and Marilyn, Peterson’s wife, broke up a few months after the press conference.