Each day, ESPN will highlight one or more "Classic Moments," the biggest sports news event of the day in the 20th century. Check back as each new day's highlights are posted on this page.
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Feb. 9
Baseball:
1920: Attempting to provide hitters with help, Major League Baseball outlaws the spitball and all other "freak deliveries" that involve defacing or applying a foreign substance to the ball. This includes resin, talcum powder, paraffin, and the shine and emery ball. A pitcher caught cheating will be ejected and suspended 10 days.
The owners, though, provide an exception: A grandfather clause will allow a handful of spitball artists to continue using the tactic for the 1920 season. After this year, all "freak" pitches will be banned without exception.
Baseball also adopts writer Fred Lieb's proposal that a game-winning homer with men on base be counted as a homer even if its run is not needed to win the game. Two other changes: The intentional walk is banned and everything that happens in a protested game will go in the records.
NBA:
1992: Three months after announcing his retirement from the Los Angeles Lakers because he had tested HIV positive, Magic Johnson returns to play in the All-Star Game. Voted a starter by the fans despite not playing a game, Magic puts on a clinic in Orlando.
In 29 minutes, he has game-highs of 25 points (shooting 9-of-14 from the field, including 3-for-3 from three-point range) and nine assists. He wins the MVP award as the West whips the East, 153-113.
"It's like I'm in a dream right now, and I don't ever want to wake up," Johnson says. "Because for one day, I got the NBA back in me, for one day. And it was great.
"This was like the perfect ending to the story. I've been trying to write this story all week, and (the game) was like I was at my typewriter, and I said, 'Here's my ending.' Period."
