title: Raymond Burr

text: Other titles in Burr's film noir legacy include "Walk a Crooked Mile" (1948), "Borderline" (1950), "Unmasked" (1950), "The Whip Hand" (1951), "FBI Girl" (1951), "Meet Danny Wilson" (1952), "Rear Window" (1954), "They Were So Young" (1954), "A Cry in the Night" (1956), and "Affair in Havana" (1957). His villains were also seen in Westerns, period dramas, horror films, and adventure films.


title: Raymond Burr

text: "I was just a fat heavy," Burr told journalist James Bawden. "I split the heavy parts with Bill Conrad. We were both in our twenties playing much older men. I never got the girl but I once got the gorilla in a 3-D picture called "Gorilla at Large". I menaced Claudette Colbert, Lizabeth Scott, Paulette Goddard, Anne Baxter, Barbara Stanwyck. Those girls would take one look at me and scream and can you blame them? I was drowned, beaten, stabbed and all for my art. But I knew I was horribly overweight. I lacked any kind of self esteem. At 25 I was playing the fathers of people older than me."


title: Raymond Burr

text: Burr's occasional roles on the right side of the law include the aggressive prosecutor in "A Place in the Sun" (1951). His courtroom performance in that film made an impression on Gail Patrick and her husband Cornwell Jackson, who had Burr in mind when they began casting the role of Los Angeles district attorney Hamilton Burger in the CBS-TV series "Perry Mason".


title: Raymond Burr

text: As a young man Burr weighed more than 300 lbs., which limited his on-screen roles. "But in radio this presented no problems, given the magnificent quality of his voice", reported "The Globe and Mail". "He played romantic leads and menacing villains with equal authority, and he earned a steady and comfortable income."


title: Raymond Burr

text: Working steadily in radio since the 1940s, often uncredited, Burr was a leading player on the West Coast. He had a regular role in Jack Webb's first radio show, "Pat Novak for Hire" (1949), and in "Dragnet" (1949–50) he played Joe Friday's boss, Ed Backstrand, chief of detectives. Burr worked on other Los Angeles-based series including "Suspense", "Screen Directors Playhouse", "Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar", "Family Theater", "Hallmark Playhouse" and "Hallmark Hall of Fame". He performed in five episodes of the experimental dramatic radio anthology series "CBS Radio Workshop", and had what is arguably his best radio role in "The Silent Witness" (1957), in which his is the only voice.


title: Raymond Burr

text: In 1956 Burr was the star of CBS Radio's "Fort Laramie", an adult Western drama produced, written and directed by the creators of "Gunsmoke". He played the role of Lee Quince, captain of the cavalry, in the series set at a post-Civil War military post where disease, boredom, the elements and the uncharted terrain were the greatest enemies of "ordinary men who lived in extraordinary times". The half-hour transcribed program aired Sundays at 5:30 p.m. ET January 22 – October 28, 1956. Burr told columnist Sheilah Graham that he had received 1,500 fan letters after the first broadcasts, and he continued to receive letters praising the show's authenticity and presentation of human dignity.


title: Raymond Burr

text: In August 1956, CBS announced that Burr would star in the television series "Perry Mason". Although the network wanted Burr to continue work on "Fort Laramie" as well, the TV series required an extraordinary commitment and the radio show ended.


title: Raymond Burr

text: Known for his loyalty and consciousness of history, Burr went out of his way to employ his radio colleagues in his television programs. Some 180 radio celebrities appeared on "Perry Mason" during the first season alone.


title: Raymond Burr

text: Burr emerged as a prolific television character actor in the 1950s. He made his television debut in 1951, appearing in episodes of "Stars Over Hollywood", "The Bigelow Theatre", "Family Theater" and the debut episode of "Dragnet". He went on to appear in such programs as "Gruen Playhouse", "Four Star Playhouse", "Ford Theatre", "Lux Video Theatre", "Mr. and Mrs. North", "Schlitz Playhouse of Stars" and "Playhouse 90".


title: Raymond Burr

text: In 1956, Burr auditioned for the role of District Attorney Hamilton Burger in "Perry Mason", a new CBS-TV courtroom drama based on the highly successful novels by Erle Stanley Gardner. Executive producer Gail Patrick Jackson had been impressed with Burr's courtroom performance in "A Place in the Sun" (1951), and she told Burr that he was perfect for Perry Mason but at least overweight. He went on a crash diet over the following month; he then tested as Perry Mason and was cast in the role. While Burr's test was running, Gardner reportedly stood up, pointed at the screen, and said, "That's Perry Mason." William Hopper also auditioned as Mason, but he was cast instead as private detective Paul Drake. The series also starred Barbara Hale as Della Street, Mason's secretary, William Talman as Hamilton Burger, the district attorney who loses nearly every case to Mason, and Ray Collins as homicide detective Lieutenant Arthur Tragg.


title: Raymond Burr

text: The series ran from 1957 to 1966 and made Burr a star. In the early 1960s, the show had 30 million viewers every Saturday night and Burr received 3,000 fan letters a week. Burr received three consecutive Emmy Award nominations and won the award in 1959 and 1961 for his performance as Perry Mason. The series has been rerun in syndication ever since, and was released on DVD between 2006 and 2013. Burr's character is often said never to have lost a case, although he did lose two murder cases off-screen in early episodes of the series.


title: Raymond Burr

text: Burr moved from CBS to Universal Studios, where he played the title role in the television drama "Ironside", which ran on NBC from 1967 to 1975. In the pilot episode, San Francisco Chief of Detectives Robert T. Ironside is paralyzed by a sniper during an attempt on his life and, after his recovery, uses a wheelchair for mobility, in the first crime drama show to star a policeman with a disability. The show earned Burr six Emmy nominations—one for the pilot and five for his work in the series—and two Golden Globe nominations.


title: Raymond Burr

text: After "Ironside" went off the air, NBC failed in two attempts to launch Burr as the star of a new series. In a two-hour television movie format, "Mallory: Circumstantial Evidence" aired in February 1976 with Burr again in the role of the lawyer who outwits the district attorney. Despite good reviews for Burr, the critical reception was poor, and NBC decided against developing it into a series.


title: Raymond Burr

text: In 1977, Burr starred in the short-lived TV series "" as R.B. Kingston, a publishing magnate similar to William Randolph Hearst, owner of numerous newspapers and TV stations, who, in his spare time, solved crimes along with a group of employees. It was a critical failure that was scheduled opposite the extraordinarily popular "Charlie's Angels". It was cancelled after 13 weeks.


title: Raymond Burr

text: Burr took on a shorter project next, playing an underworld boss in a six-hour miniseries, "79 Park Avenue".


title: Raymond Burr

text: One last attempt to launch a series followed on CBS. The two-hour premiere of "The Jordan Chance" aroused little interest.


title: Raymond Burr

text: On January 20, 1987, Burr hosted the television special that later served as the pilot for the long-running series "Unsolved Mysteries".


title: Raymond Burr

text: In 1985, Burr was approached by producers Dean Hargrove and Fred Silverman to star in a made-for-TV movie, "Perry Mason Returns". The same week, Burr recalled, he was asked to reprise the role he played in "Godzilla, King of the Monsters!" (1956), in a low-budget film that would be titled "Godzilla 1985".


title: Raymond Burr

text: "When they asked me to do it a second time, I said, 'Certainly,' and everybody thought I was out of my mind," Burr told Tom Shales of "The Washington Post". "But it wasn't the large sum of money. It was the fact that, first of all, I kind of liked 'Godzilla,' and where do you get the opportunity to play yourself 30 years later? So I said yes to both of them." Although Burr is best remembered for his role as Perry Mason, a devoted following continues to appreciate him as the actor that brought the Godzilla series to America.


title: Raymond Burr

text: He agreed to do the Mason movie if Barbara Hale returned to reprise her role as Della Street. Hale agreed, and when "Perry Mason Returns" aired in December 1985, her character became the defendant. The rest of the principal cast had died, but Hale's real-life son William Katt played the role of Paul Drake, Jr. The movie was so successful that Burr made a total of 26 Perry Mason television films before his death. Many were filmed in and around Denver, Colorado.


title: Raymond Burr

text: By 1993, when Burr signed with NBC for another season of Mason films, he was using a wheelchair full-time because of his failing health. In his final Perry Mason movie, "The Case of the Killer Kiss", he was shown either sitting or standing while leaning on a table, but only once standing unsupported for a few seconds. Twelve more Mason movies were scheduled before Burr's death, including one scheduled to film the month he died.


title: Raymond Burr

text: As he had with the Perry Mason TV movies, Burr decided to do an "Ironside" reunion movie. "The Return of Ironside" aired in May 1993, reuniting the entire original cast of the 1967–75 series. Like many of the Mason movies, it was set and filmed in Denver.


title: Raymond Burr

text: Burr said that he weighed 12.75 pounds (5.8 kg) at birth, and was chubby throughout his childhood. "When you're a little fat boy in public school, or any kind of school, you're just persecuted something awful," he said. His weight was always an issue for him in getting roles, and it became a public relations problem when Johnny Carson began making jokes about him during his "Tonight Show" monologues. Burr refused to appear as Carson's guest from then on, and told "Us Weekly" years later: "I have been asked a number of times to do his show and I won't do it. Because I like NBC. He's doing an NBC show. If I went on I'd have some things to say, not just about the bad jokes he's done about me, but bad jokes he does about everybody who can't fight back because they aren't there. And that wouldn't be good for NBC."


title: Raymond Burr

text: Burr married actress Isabella Ward (1919–2004) on January 10, 1948. They met in 1943 while she was a student at the Pasadena Playhouse where Burr was teaching. They met again in 1947 when she was in California with a theater company. They were married shortly before Burr began work on the 1948 film noir "Pitfall". In May 1948, they appeared on stage together in a Pasadena Playhouse production based on the life of Paul Gauguin. They lived in the basement apartment of a large house in Hollywood that Burr shared with his mother and grandparents. The marriage ended within months, and Ward returned to her native Delaware. They divorced in 1952, and neither remarried.


title: Raymond Burr

text: In 1960, Burr met Robert Benevides, an actor and Korean War veteran, on the set of "Perry Mason". Benevides gave up acting in 1963, and he became a production consultant for 21 of the "Perry Mason" TV movies. They owned and operated an orchid business and then a vineyard in California's Dry Creek Valley. They were domestic partners until Burr's death in 1993. Burr bequeathed his entire estate to Benevides, and Benevides renamed the Dry Creek property Raymond Burr Vineyards (reportedly against Burr's wishes) and managed it as a commercial enterprise. In 2017, the property was sold.


title: Raymond Burr

text: Although Burr had not revealed his homosexuality during his lifetime, it was reported in the press upon his death.


title: Raymond Burr

text: At various times in his career, Burr and his managers and publicists offered spurious or unverifiable biographical details to the press and public. Burr's obituary in "The New York Times" states that he entered the US Navy in 1944, after "The Duke in Darkness", and left in 1946, weighing almost . Although Burr may have served in the Coast Guard, reports of his service in the US Navy are false, as apparently are his statements that he sustained battle injuries at Okinawa.


title: Raymond Burr

text: Other false biographical details include years of college education at a variety of institutions, being widowed twice, a son who died young, world travel, and success in high school athletics. Most of these claims were apparently accepted as fact by the press during Burr's lifetime, up until his death and by his first biographer, Ona Hill.


title: Raymond Burr

text: Burr reportedly was married at the beginning of World War II to an actress named Annette Sutherland—killed, Burr said, in the same 1943 plane crash that claimed the life of actor Leslie Howard. However, multiple sources have reported that no one by that name appears on any of the published passenger manifests from the flight. A son supposedly born during this marriage, Michael Evan, was said to have died of leukemia in 1953 at the age of ten. Another marriage purportedly took place in the early 1950s to a Laura Andrina Morgan—who died of cancer, Burr said, in 1955. Yet no evidence exists of either marriage, nor of a son's birth, other than Burr's own claims. As late as 1991, Burr stood by the account of this son's life and death. He told "Parade" that when he realized Michael was dying, he took him on a one-year tour of the United States. "Before my boy left, before his time was gone," he said, "I wanted him to see the beauty of his country and its people." After Burr's death, his publicist confirmed that Burr worked steadily in Hollywood throughout 1952, the year that he was supposedly touring the country with his son.


title: Raymond Burr

text: In the late 1950s, Burr was rumored to be romantically involved with Natalie Wood. Wood's agent sent her on public dates so she could be noticed by directors and producers, and so the men she dated could present themselves in public as heterosexuals. The dates helped to disguise Wood's relationship with Robert Wagner, whom she later married. Burr reportedly resented Warner Bros.' decision to promote her attachment to another gay actor, Tab Hunter, rather than him. Robert Benevides later said, "He was a little bitter about it. He was really in love with her, I guess."


title: Raymond Burr

text: Later accounts of Burr's life say that he hid his homosexuality to protect his career. "That was a time in Hollywood history when homosexuality was not countenanced", Associated Press reporter Bob Thomas recalled in a 2000 episode of "Biography". "Ray was not a romantic star by any means, but he was a very popular figure ... If it was revealed at that time in Hollywood history it would have been very difficult for him to continue."


title: Raymond Burr

text: Arthur Marks, a producer of "Perry Mason", recalled Burr's talk of wives and children: "I know he was just putting on a show. ... That was my gut feeling. I think the wives and the loving women, the Natalie Wood thing, were a bit of a cover." Dean Hargrove, executive producer of the Perry Mason TV films, said in 2006, "I had always assumed that Raymond was gay, because he had a relationship with Robert Benevides for a very long time. Whether or not he had relationships with women, I had no idea. I did know that I had trouble keeping track of whether he was married or not in these stories. Raymond had the ability to mythologize himself, to some extent, and some of his stories about his past ... tended to grow as time went by."


title: Raymond Burr

text: Burr had many hobbies over the course of his life: cultivating orchids and collecting wine, art, stamps, and seashells. He was very fond of cooking. He was interested in flying, sailing, and fishing. According to A&E Biography, Burr was an avid reader with a retentive memory. He was also among the earliest importers and breeders of Portuguese water dogs in the United States.


title: Raymond Burr

text: Burr developed his interest in cultivating and hybridizing orchids into a business with Benevides. Over 20 years, their company, Sea God Nurseries, had nurseries in Fiji, Hawaii, the Azores, and California, and was responsible for adding more than 1,500 new orchids to the worldwide catalog. Burr named one of them the "Barbara Hale Orchid" after his "Perry Mason" costar. Burr and Benevides cultivated Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, and grapes for Port wine, as well as orchids, at Burr's farmland holdings in Sonoma County, California.


title: Raymond Burr

text: In 1965, Burr purchased Naitauba, a island in Fiji, rich in seashells. There, he and Benevides oversaw the raising of copra (coconut meat) and cattle, as well as orchids. Burr planned to retire there permanently. However, medical problems made that impossible and he sold the property in 1983.


title: Raymond Burr

text: Burr was a well-known philanthropist. He gave enormous sums of money, including his salaries from the Perry Mason movies, to charity. He was also known for sharing his wealth with friends. He sponsored 26 foster children through the Foster Parents' Plan or Save The Children, many with the greatest medical needs. He gave money and some of his Perry Mason scripts to the McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, California.


title: Raymond Burr

text: Burr was an early supporter of the Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum in Sanibel, Florida, raising funds and chairing its first capital campaign. He also donated to the museum a large collection of Fijian cowries and cones from his island in Fiji.


title: Raymond Burr

text: In 1993, Sonoma State University awarded Burr an honorary doctorate. He supported medical and educational institutions in Denver, and in 1993, the University of Colorado awarded him an honorary doctorate for his acting work. Burr also founded and financed the American Fijian Foundation that funded academic research, including efforts to develop a dictionary of the language.


title: Raymond Burr

text: Burr made repeated trips on behalf of the United Service Organizations (USO). He toured both Korea and Vietnam during wartime and once spent six months touring Korea, Japan, and the Philippines. He sometimes organized his own troupe and toured bases both in the U.S. and overseas, often small installations that the USO did not serve, like one tour of Greenland, Baffin Island, Newfoundland and Labrador. Returning from Vietnam in 1965, he made a speaking tour of the U.S. to advocate an intensified war effort. As the war became more controversial, he modified his tone, called for more attention to the sacrifice of the troops, and said, "My only position on the war is that I wish it were over." In October 1967, NBC aired "Raymond Burr Visits Vietnam", a documentary of one of his visits. The reception was mixed. "The impressions he came up with are neither weighty nor particularly revealing", wrote the "Chicago Tribune"; the "Los Angeles Times" said Burr's questions were "intelligent and elicited some interesting replies".


title: Raymond Burr

text: Burr had a reputation in Hollywood as a thoughtful, generous man years before much of his more-visible philanthropic work. In 1960, Ray Collins, who portrayed Lt. Arthur Tragg on the original "Perry Mason" series, and who was by that time often ill and unable to remember all the lines he was supposed to speak, stated, "There is nothing but kindness from our star, Ray Burr. Part of his life is dedicated to us, and that's no bull. If there's anything the matter with any of us, he comes around before anyone else and does what he can to help. He's a great star—in the old tradition."


title: Raymond Burr

text: During the filming of his last Perry Mason movie in the spring of 1993, Burr fell ill. A Viacom spokesperson told the media that the illness might be related to the renal cell carcinoma (malignant kidney tumor) that had been removed from Burr that February. It was determined that the cancer had spread to his liver and was at that point inoperable. Burr threw several "goodbye parties" before his death on September 12, 1993, at his Sonoma County ranch near Healdsburg. He was 76 years old.


title: Raymond Burr

text: The day after Burr's death, American Bar Association president R. William Ide III released a statement: "Raymond Burr's portrayals of Perry Mason represented lawyers in a professional and dignified manner. ... Mr. Burr strove for such authenticity in his courtroom characterizations that we regard his passing as though we lost one of our own." "The New York Times" reported that Perry Mason had been named second—after F. Lee Bailey, and before Abraham Lincoln, Thurgood Marshall, Janet Reno, Ben Matlock and Hillary Clinton—in a recent "National Law Journal" poll that asked Americans to name the attorney, fictional or not, they most admired.


title: Raymond Burr

text: Burr was interred with his parents at Fraser Cemetery, New Westminster, British Columbia. On October 1, 1993, about 600 family members and friends paid tribute to Burr at a private memorial service at the Pasadena Playhouse.


title: Raymond Burr

text: Burr bequeathed his estate to Robert Benevides, and excluded all relatives, including a sister, nieces, and nephews. His will was challenged, without success, by the two children of his late brother, James E. Burr. Benevides's attorney said that tabloid reports of an estate worth $32 million were an overestimate.


title: Raymond Burr

text: For his work in the TV series "Perry Mason", Burr received the Emmy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Continuing Character) in a Dramatic Series at the 11th Primetime Emmy Awards in 1959. Nominated again in 1960, he received his second Emmy Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Series (Lead) at the 13th Primetime Emmy Awards in 1961. Burr was named Favorite Male Performer, for "Perry Mason", in "TV Guide" magazine's inaugural "TV Guide" Award readers poll in 1960. He also received the second annual award in 1961.


title: Raymond Burr

text: In 1960, Burr was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6656 Hollywood Boulevard. Burr received six Emmy nominations (1968–72) for his work in the TV series "Ironside". He was nominated twice, in 1969 and 1972, for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama. A benefactor of legal education, Burr was principal speaker at the founders' banquet of the Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan, in June 1973. The Raymond Burr Award for Excellence in Criminal Law was established in his honor.


title: Raymond Burr

text: Burr was ranked #44 on "TV Guide"s 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time in 1996. Completed in 1996, a circular garden at the entrance to the Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum in Sanibel, Florida, honors Burr for his role in establishing the museum. Burr was a trustee and an early supporter who chaired the museum's first capital campaign, and made direct contributions from his own shell collection. A display about Burr as an actor, benefactor and collector opened in the museum's Great Hall of Shells in 2012.


title: Raymond Burr

text: From 2000 to 2006, the Raymond Burr Performing Arts Society leased the historic Columbia Theatre from the city of New Westminster, and renamed it the Raymond Burr Performing Arts Centre. Although the nonprofit organization hoped to raise funds to renovate and expand the venue, its contract was not renewed. The group was a failed bidder when the theater was sold in 2011.


title: Raymond Burr

text: In 2008, Canada Post issued a postage stamp in its "Canadians in Hollywood" series featuring Burr. Burr received the 2009 Canadian Legends Award and a star on Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto. The induction ceremony was held on September 12, 2009. A 2014 article in "The Atlantic" that examined how Netflix categorized nearly 77,000 different personalized genres found that Burr was rated as the favorite actor by Netflix users, with the greatest number of dedicated microgenres.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ; ) is a self-defence martial art and combat sport based on grappling, ground fighting (ne-waza) and submission holds. BJJ focuses on the skill of taking an opponent to the ground, controlling one's opponent, gaining a dominant position, and using a number of techniques to force them into submission via joint locks or chokeholds.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: Brazilian jiu-jitsu was initially developed in the 1926 by Brazilian brothers Carlos, Oswaldo, Gastão Jr., George, and Hélio Gracie, after Carlos was taught jiu-jitsu by a travelling Japanese judoka, Mitsuyo Maeda who himself mastered his ground fighting while interacting with Taro Miyake (Tanabe student), Sadakazu Uyenishi (Handa, Tanabe) and Yukio Tani (Tenjin Shinyo-ryu) and catch wrestlers in Europe. Later on, the Gracie family developed their own self-defense system, and published "Gracie Jiu-Jitsu".


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: BJJ eventually came to be its own defined combat sport through the innovations, practices, and adaptation of Gracie jiu-jitsu and Judo, and became an essential martial art for modern MMA. Governing bodies such as the IBJJF work worldwide, and set the rules and standards to be held in sport BJJ competitions.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: BJJ revolves around the concept, taken from traditional Japanese jūjutsu, that a smaller, weaker person can successfully defend themselves against a bigger, stronger, heavier opponent by using leverage and weight distribution, taking the fight to the ground and using a number of holds and submissions to defeat them. BJJ training can be used for sport grappling and self-defense situations. Sparring, commonly referred to as "rolling" within the BJJ community, and live drilling plays a major role in training and the practitioner's development. BJJ can also be used as a method of promoting physical fitness, building character, and as a way of life.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: Mitsuyo Maeda, one of five Kodokan's top groundwork experts trained by judo's founder Kano Jigoro, was sent overseas to demonstrate and spread his art to the world. He left Japan in 1904 and visited a number of countries giving "jiu-do" demonstrations and accepting challenges from wrestlers, boxers, savate fighters, and various other martial artists, and arrived in Brazil on 14 November 1914. Maeda had trained first in sumo as a teenager, and after the interest generated by stories about the success of Kodokan judo at competitions with other jujutsu schools of the time, he became a student of Kano.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: Gastão Gracie was a business partner of the "American Circus" in Belém. In 1916, Italian Argentine circus Queirolo Brothers staged shows there and presented Maeda.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: In 1917 Carlos Gracie (eldest son of Gastão Gracie) watched a ‘Kano Jiu-Jitsu’ demonstration by Maeda at the Da Paz Theatre and decided he wanted to learn. Maeda accepted Carlos as a student. He taught Carlos for several years (perhaps 5–6 years), eventually passing his knowledge on to his brothers. Gracie's account of the events is that his younger sibling Hélio Gracie gradually developed Gracie jiu-jitsu as a softer, pragmatic adaptation that focused more on the ground fighting and leverage aspect of Jiu-Jitsu/Judo (ne-waza) rather than the throws, as he was unable to perform many Judo throws, due to his size, that required direct opposition to an opponent's strength.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: Although the Gracie family is typically recognized as the main family to first promote Brazilian jiu-jitsu as it is known today, there was also another prominent lineage derived from Maeda via another Brazilian disciple, Luiz França. This discipline was taught to Italian legend of the sport Marco Donello who later on passed his extensive knowledge to Mark McDonnell (his Australian nephew). This lineage had been represented particularly by Oswaldo Fadda. Fadda and his students were famous for defeating the Gracies in a gym battle and the influential use of footlocks, and the lineage still survives through Fadda's links in teams such as Nova União and Grappling Fight Team (GF Team).


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: The name "jiu-jitsu" derives from an older romanization of its original spelling in the West; the modern Hepburn romanization of 柔術 is "jūjutsu".


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: When Maeda left Japan, judo was still often referred to as "Kano jiu-jitsu", or, even more generically, simply as "jiu-jitsu". Higashi, the co-author of "The Complete Kano Jiu-Jitsu (Judo)" wrote in the foreword:


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: Outside Japan, however, this distinction was noted even less. Thus, when Maeda and Satake arrived in Brazil in 1914, every newspaper announced their art as being "jiu-jitsu", despite both men being Kodokan judoka.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: It was not until 1925 that the Japanese government itself officially mandated that the correct name for the martial art taught in the Japanese public schools should be "judo" rather than "jujutsu". In Brazil, the art is still called "jiu-jitsu". When the Gracies went to the United States and spread jiu-jitsu, they used the terms "Gracie jiu-jitsu" and non-Gracies using the term "Brazilian jiu-jitsu" to differentiate from the already present styles using similar-sounding names. In a 1994 interview with Yoshinori Nishi, Hélio Gracie said that he did not even know the word "Judo" itself until the sport came in the 1950s to Brazil, because he heard that Mitsuyo Maeda called his style "jiu-jitsu".


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: The art is sometimes referred to as Gracie jiu-jitsu (GJJ), a name trademarked by Rorion Gracie, but after a legal dispute with his cousin Carley Gracie, his trademark to the name was voided. Other members of the Gracie family often call their style by personalized names, such as Ceaser Gracie Jiu-Jitsu or Renzo Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, and similarly, the Machado family call their style Machado Jiu-Jitsu (MJJ). While each style and its instructors have their own unique aspects, they are all basic variations of Brazilian jiu-jitsu. There are currently four major BJJ branches in Brazil: Gracie Humaita, Gracie Barra, Carlson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, and Alliance Jiu Jitsu. Each branch traces its roots back to Mitsuyo Maeda.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu share some techniques with the original Kodokan Judo, especially certain styles practiced before Judo became part of the Olympics such as Kosen Judo, and still practiced to a lesser extent, as well as with the earlier "ryu" school of Jujutsu. Some practitioners have suggested that Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu should just be called "Jiu-Jitsu".


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: Certain changes were made to the rules of sport judo after judo was introduced to Brazil. Some of these rule changes sought to enhance it as a spectator sport, and others aimed to improve safety. Several of these rule changes de-emphasized the groundwork aspects of judo, and others have reduced the range of joint locks application. Brazilian jiu-jitsu did not follow these changes to judo rules, and this divergence gave BJJ a distinct identity as a ground focused grappling art, this difference was later consolidated with the creation of a new set of rules that guide BJJ practice today.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: Even though BJJ permits the same techniques as judo, especially when taking the combat to the ground, they are not scored in the same way. In Judo, throwing techniques are scored higher and can give a direct victory if executed correctly, the emphasis of the fight is to sweep or throw the opponent to the ground to win. In BJJ, ground fighting positions such as the rear mount receive higher scores and the focus of the fight is to establish a dominant position against the adversary on the ground and submit them using chokeholds or joint locks.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: BJJ also allows heelhooks and knee-reaping which are prohibited in Judo, and any takedowns used in wrestling, sambo, or other grappling arts, including direct attempts to take down by touching the legs or dragging the opponent to the ground. Spinal locks and cervical locks are not allowed in gi jiu-jitsu, amateur MMA, multiple forms of no-gi jiu-jitsu, Judo, and other martial arts, due to potential to cause serious bodily injury. BJJ also has become more "sports-oriented" in recent years, prohibiting techniques such as slams. Another divergence of BJJ from Judo and Jujutsu is that the first allows no-gi practice and competition, with its own subset of rules. Use of holds and takedowns from wrestling and other grappling styles is common in no-gi BJJ, and strikes may also be used when the competition rules permit, such as the open palm strike in CJJ (Combat jiu-jitsu).


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: In 1972, Carley Gracie moved to the United States to teach jiu-jitsu, and in 1978 was followed by Rorion Gracie, who co-founded the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in 1993. Jiu-jitsu came to international prominence in martial arts circles when Brazilian jiu-jitsu expert Royce Gracie won the first, second and fourth Ultimate Fighting Championships, which at the time were single elimination martial arts tournaments. Royce fought successfully against several larger opponents proficient in other fighting styles, including boxing, shoot-fighting, muay thai, karate, wrestling, and taekwondo. BJJ has since become an elementary aspect of MMA, revealing the importance of ground fighting in a fight. Sport BJJ tournaments continue to grow in popularity and have given rise to no-gi submission grappling tournaments, such as the ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship and NAGA, the North American Grappling Association. Sport BJJ has also become a popular method of fitness around the world in recent years.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: Brazilian jiu-jitsu focuses on getting an opponent to the ground in order to neutralize possible strength or size advantages through ground fighting techniques and submission holds involving joint-locks and chokeholds. On the ground, physical strength can be offset or enhanced through proper grappling techniques.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: BJJ employs a wide range of takedown techniques to bring an opponent to the ground such as "pulling guard", which is not used in other combat sports such as Judo or Wrestling. Once the opponent is on the ground, a number of manoeuvres (and counter-manoeuvres) are available to manipulate the opponent into a suitable position for the application of a submission technique. Achieving a dominant position on the ground is one of the hallmarks of BJJ, which includes effective use of the guard position to defend oneself from bottom (using both submissions and sweeps, with sweeps leading to the possibility of dominant position or an opportunity to pass the guard), and passing the guard to dominate from top position with side control, mount, and back mount positions. This system of manoeuvring and manipulation can be likened to a form of kinetic or physical chess when executed by two experienced practitioners. A submission hold in BJJ is often assimilated to the equivalent of "checkmate", where the opponent is left with no other option but to tap, be injured, or choked.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: The book details Maeda's theory as arguing that physical combat could be broken down into distinct phases, such as the striking phase, the grappling phase, the ground phase, etc. Thus, it was a smart fighter's task to keep the fight located in the phase of combat best suited to his own strengths. Renzo Gracie stated that this was a fundamental influence of the Gracie approach to combat. These strategies were further developed over time by the Gracie family, among others, and became prominent in contemporary MMA.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is mainly differentiated from other martial arts by its greater emphasis on ground fighting. BJJ places less emphasis on standing techniques, such as striking and throws, although takedowns score points and the rules allows for a diverse range of techniques such as single, double leg takedowns, or foot sweeps. Some BJJ practitioners also cross train with wrestling, judo, and sambo.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: As BJJ focuses on submissions, sparring and live drilling become the most essential part of the training regime. This type of training allows practitioners to practice at full speed and with full strength, resembling the effort made in a competition. Training methods include drills in which techniques are practiced against a non-resisting and resisting partners; isolation sparring (commonly referred to as positional drilling) where only a certain technique or sets of techniques are used; and full sparring where each practitioner tries to submit their opponent through technique. Physical conditioning is also an important aspect of training.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: The Gracie family lineage descended from Helio Gracie focuses on practical applications of BJJ that apply primarily to self-defense. They will often run development drills in which a person is surrounded by a circle of other students who will attempt to attack the defending student, who in turn must defend themselves using techniques.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: Once on the ground, the BJJ practitioner strives to take a dominant or controlling position from where to apply submissions. These positions provide different submission or transition options.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: In side control, the practitioner pins his opponent to the ground from the side of their torso. The top grappler lies across the opponent with weight applied to the opponent's chest. The opponent may be further controlled by pressure on either side of the shoulders and hips from the practitioner's elbows, shoulders, and knees. A wide variety of submissions can be initiated from side control. It is also referred to as the side mount. Additionally, the typical side mount increases opportunity for the top grappler to advance to other dominant positions. This position is often used in MMA as it allows the top fighter to strike whilst overcoming their opponents defense. There are many variants of the side control position, including kesa gatame, standard side control, reverse side control, and other positions.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: The knee on belly position is a modified side pin that is distinctly separated from the side control position. The knee on belly position is characterized primarily by the control of the opponent with one leg out for base and balance and the other leg positioned across the opponent's torso pinning them to the ground. This form of pin is a mobile pin rather than a static pin and is considered a more dominant position in many grappling formats. The knee on belly position is worth additional points because it provides a greater striking platform than traditional side control and is closer to achieving the more ideal mounted position. During Finnish BJJ open 2019, Marika Vainola put her knee on Ulla Murisoja's belly and ruptured her small intestine.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: In the mount (or full mount) position, the practitioner sits astride the opponent's front torso or chest, controlling the opponent with his bodyweight and hips. In the strongest form of this position, the practitioner works his knees into the opponent's armpits to reduce arm movements and ability to move or counter submission attempts. Full Mount can be used to apply a variety of submissions including armlocks or chokes.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: When taking the back mount position (often known in Brazilian jiu-jitsu as the "back grab" or "attacking the back"), the practitioner attaches to the back of the opponent by wrapping his legs around and hooking the opponent's thighs with their heel, or locking in a body triangle by crossing one shin across the waist like a belt then placing the back of the opposing knee over the instep as if finishing a triangle choke. Simultaneously, the upper body is controlled by wrapping the arms around the chest or neck of the opponent. This position is often used to apply chokeholds, as well as arm bars and triangles, and neutralizes an opponent's potential size or strength advantage.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: The North South position occurs when a practitioner is lying on their back on the ground and their opponent is lying on top, with the head over the chest area and controlling the bottom practitioner's arms. As with most top controlling positions in BJJ, the top practitioner applies pressure by bringing their hips downwards towards the ground, generating what is referred to as "dead weight". There are several submissions and transitions that are possible from the North South position, most commonly the North South choke, North South kimura, and others.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: When in the "Guard" position, the practitioner is on their back controlling an opponent with his legs. The bottom practitioner pushes and pulls with the legs or feet to unbalance and limit the movements of his opponent. This position allows practitioners a wide variety of counter-attacks from the bottom position, including submissions and sweeps.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: In closed guard, the bottom grappler has his legs around the opponent's hips, with ankles closed together to control their opponent. The closed guard can be an effective position. This guard allows many setups for submissions such as joint locks and chokes, as well as sweeps. In the open guard, the legs are not hooked together and the bottom grappler uses his legs or feet to push or pull their opponent.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: There are many variations of open guard with distinct names and positioning including the Butterfly Guard, De La Riva Guard, X-Guard, Rubber guard, Spider Guard, Octopus Guard, Lapel Guard, Worm Guard (made popular by Keenan Cornelius) and others. Butterfly guard is when the bottom grappler brings his legs up and feet together against the inner thighs of top opponent. The name is derived from the resulting butterfly wing shape. Butterfly guard increases both space to maneuver and the ability to counter the opponent with the shins or arches of the feet against the competitor's inner thighs. Spider guard is when the bottom grappler puts one or two of his feet on his opponents arms, this guard is effective at keeping control on the bottom and can be used to setup sweeps or submissions.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: In the half guard, one of the top grappler's legs is controlled by the bottom grappler's legs, preventing the top opponent from passing side control or full mount positions. There is also a variant of half guard called "50/50 guard", which consist of each opponent usually in sitting positions with one of their legs hooking the same leg of their opponent in a mirrored fashion. This position is called 50/50 because neither opponent has a distinct advantage, where both sides have the same possibilities of sweeps and attacks.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: Another variation of the half guard position is the "deep half guard", which involves the bottom grappler positioning themselves underneath their opponent, grabbing the top grappler's thigh. This gives the individual on the bottom the opportunity to sweep their opponent, and end up on a more dominant, top position. This position was popularized by American BJJ Black Belt, Jeff Glover.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: The majority of submission holds can be grouped into two broad categories: joint locks and chokes. Joint locks typically involve isolating an opponent's limb and creating a lever with the body position, which will force the joint to move past its normal range of motion. Pressure is increased in a controlled manner and released if the opponent cannot escape the hold and signals defeat by tapping. A choke hold can disrupt the blood supply to the brain and cause unconsciousness if the opponent does not tap when required.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: A less common type of submission hold is a compression lock, where the muscle of an opponent is compressed against a hard, large bone (commonly the shin or wrist), causing significant pain to the opponent. These types of locks are not usually allowed in competition due to the high risk of tearing muscle tissue. This type of lock also often hyper-extends the joint in the opposite direction, pulling it apart. Some compression locks include the Achilles lock, Biceps slicer, and Leg slicer (or Calf slicer).


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: While many joint locks are permitted in BJJ, most competitions ban or restrict some or all joint locks that involve the knees, ankles, and spine. The reason for this is that the angles of manipulation required to cause pain are nearly the same as those that would cause serious injury. Joint locks that require a twisting motion of the knee (such as heel hooks or knee bars) are usually banned in competitions because successfully completing the move can frequently result in permanent damage, often requiring surgery. Similarly, joint manipulations of the spine are typically barred due to the inherent danger of crushing or misaligning cervical vertebrae. Leglocks are allowed in varying degrees depending on skill level, with the most prominent BJJ tournaments typically allowing only the straight ankle lock and muscle stretching submissions such as the "banana split" from white through purple belt, with the kneebar, toehold, and calf slicer submissions being permitted at brown and black belt. Heel hooks and knee-reaping are illegal in gi BJJ, since they are considered to be exceptionally dangerous techniques, but are allowed by IBJJF rules in no-gi competitions. Most joint locks involving the wrist, elbow, shoulder or ankle are permitted as there is a great deal more flexibility in those joints and those locks are usually safe.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: Joint locks include armbars, kimuras, Americanas, straight-arm lock, omoplata, marceloplata, banana split (or electric chair), twister, wrist lock, heel hook, toehold, kneebar, straight ankle lock, and others.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: Chokes are common forms of submission. In BJJ, the chokes that are used put pressure on the carotid arteries, and may also apply pressure to the nerve baroreceptors in the neck. This kind of choke is very fast acting (if done properly) with victims typically losing consciousness in around 3–5 seconds. In contrast, an air choke (involving constriction of the windpipe) can take up to two minutes, depending on how long the person can hold their breath, and may cause serious damage to the throat.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: Chokes include rear-naked choke, bow and arrow choke, triangle, Guillotine choke, sleeve choke (or Ezekiel choke), cross collar choke (or X choke), baseball choke, Clock choke, D'Arce choke, Anaconda choke, Arm triangle choke, north–south choke, crucifix choke, Gogoplata, loop choke, lapel half nelson choke, and others.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: The Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner's uniform commonly referred to as "gi" or "kimono" is similar to a judogi, but with slight differences in the dimensions and often made of lighter material with tighter cuffs on the pants and jacket. This allows the practitioner to benefit from a closer fit, providing less material for an opponent to manipulate. Traditionally, to be promoted in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, the wearing of the Jiu-Jitsu gi while training is a requirement. Recently with the growing popularity of "no-gi" Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu the practice of giving out belts to no-gi practitioners (e.g., Rolles Gracie awarding Rashad Evans a black belt) has become more common.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: There are certain differences between gi jiu-jitsu and "no-gi" jiu-jitsu. In gi jiu-jitsu one can grip an opponent's uniform, using it to submit or advance position. There are a number of submissions that are specific to the gi, such as the "Loop choke", "Collar choke", and others. A specific set of rules to guide no-gi competitions is issued by the IBJJF, but there may be variation in the set of rules applied in each competition. By IBJJF rules uniform grips are not permitted in "no-gi" jiu-jitsu.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: The Brazilian jiu-jitsu ranking system awards a practitioner different coloured belts to signify increasing levels of technical knowledge and practical skill. While the system's structure shares its origins with the judo ranking system and the origins of all coloured belts, it now contains many of its own unique aspects and themes. Some of these differences are relatively minor, such as the division between youth and adult belts and the stripe/degree system. Others are quite distinct and have become synonymous with the art, such as a marked informality in promotional criteria, including as a focus on a competitive demonstration of skill, and a conservative approach to promotion in general.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: Traditionally, the concept of competitive skill demonstration as a quickened and earned route of promotion holds true. Some schools have placed a green belt for adults between the white and blue belt ranks due to the long periods between advancement. In addition, the use of a grey belt has been instituted for many children's programs to signal progress between the white and yellow belt rankings.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: Unlike in some martial arts such as taekwondo and karate, a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu commonly takes more than several years to earn, and the rank is generally considered expert level. The amount of time it takes to achieve the rank of black belt varies between the practitioner. Some notable individuals who had previous backgrounds in other martial arts have been promoted directly to black belt rank without going through any intermediate rank, though this has fallen out of favour in recent times. Others have achieved the rank in relatively short time frames. Outside of exceptions such as these, the average time frame is around 10 years with a consistent training schedule. However, Ryron Gracie (grandson/grandnephew of founders Hélio and Carlos Gracie) has stated that the average of 10–12 years is longer than necessary, suggesting that the ego of the practitioner often hinders progress, and advancement to black belt should take about 7 years.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: Since its inception Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has had different registered federations and tournaments (some organizations illegitimately calling themselves federations). The first jiu-jitsu federation was the Jiu-Jitsu Federation of Guanabara, which has remained a regional federation of Rio de Janeiro, while many others were founded. Among the most prestigious of the many federations are the Sport Jiu Jitsu International Federation (SJJIF), a nonprofit organization with federations and tournaments around the globe with the mission of making jiu-jitsu an Olympic sport. The International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation, a for-profit organization that hosts a number of tournaments and JJGF, founded by Rickson Gracie, which has focus on both BJJ as self-defense and as a sport.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: The weight classes for BJJ competitions can differ depending on the organisation that is promoting the event. The IBJJF weight classes are the most commonly used, under the IBJJF rules, the weight classes vary by age, sex and competition type (Gi vs Nogi).


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: While there are numerous local and regional tournaments administered regularly by private individuals and academies, there are two major entities in jiu-jitsu circles. First, is the Sport Jiu Jitsu International Federation (SJJIF), a (nonprofit) organization with international federations and tournaments. Second, is the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF), a for-profit company that hosts a number of major tournaments worldwide. These include the Pan American Championship, European Championship, and the Mundials. California, New York, and Texas are the three states in the US which host tournaments most frequently. Other promotions within North America, such as Battleground Grappling Championship, American Grappling Federation (AGF), North American BJJ Federation (NABJJF), and North American Grappling Association (NAGA) host tournaments nationwide, but visit these states multiple times within a tournament season.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: Another tournament to spring from the founding Gracie lineage is the Gracie Nationals or Gracie Worlds. Founded in 2007 by Rose Gracie, daughter of Ultimate Fighting Championship creator and Brazilian jiu-jitsu grandmaster Rorion Gracie. Gracie Nationals/Worlds followed the guidelines of other major tournaments of the time, implementing a points systems


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: In 2012, the Gracie Worlds introduced a new submission-only format, removing certain judging systems that many interpreted as an outdated scoring system. Rose spoke about this change when she said, "Today's tournaments aren't what my grandfather [Helio Gracie] envisioned. There's so many rules that it takes away from the actual art of jiu-jitsu. We don't see many submissions. We see cheating, we see decisions made by a referee. We need to stand together against this and support a submission only kind of revolution." Cheating in jiu-jitsu, Rose said, comes in many forms. "[A competitor] will earn a point, then hold for the entire match so they can win with that one little advantage they got at the start," Rose said. "That's not jiu-jitsu. That's cheating." Mark McDonnell from Gracie Botany agrees.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: This discontent with points-based and advantage-style competition has been echoed throughout the jiu-jitsu community, leading to many prominent submission-only style events. At these events, the winner of a match is determined only by submission, and these tournaments at times have no time limit, or are timed with a result of double disqualification if there is no submission victory. This form of tournament have yet to become widespread, but is gaining in popularity especially amongst MMA competitors. Metamoris, a grappling competition event run by Rose's brother Ralek Gracie, has helped advocate this tournament form. Another notable example of a submission-only format is the EBI (Eddie Bravo Invitational), which was the first televised event of its kind, and is now being featured on UFC Fight Pass. Other submission-only events have cropped up all over the world including TUFF invitational, Polaris Pro Grappling based in the United Kingdom, Submission Underground backed by longtime MMA star Chael Sonnen, and the QUINTET promotion, devised by Japanese MMA legend Kazushi Sakuraba and based around teams of five players each representing a different gym or background.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: At tournaments, especially those hosted by the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF), some athletes engage in a practice called "closing out". This occurs when two athletes, usually friends or members of the same team, meet in a match but refuse to fight. Tournament organizers can minimize the chance of close-outs by placing athletes from the same team on opposite sides of the bracket, a practice which makes the finals the only match in which they could possibly meet (assuming each team has no more than two competitors in a given bracket). When two athletes close out a match, they agree which one of them will technically forfeit to the other. As this most often occurs in the final matches of tournaments, this usually means deciding which of the two will win the gold medal and which will win the silver. Notable examples of closing out include Marcus "Buchecha" Almeida forfeiting the finals of the Absolute division at the 2018 IBJJF World Championship to his friend Leandro Lo, who had suffered a shoulder injury during a previous match, and frequent close outs between the brothers Paulo and Joao Miyao, who often compete in the same weight division.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: Proponents of close-outs claim it fosters team unity and allows competitors to train as hard and as freely as they can with their teammates. They say that facing a teammate in a competition would make them hold back in training. Critics of the practice say it diminishes audience enjoyment of tournaments where it is allowed, and some tournaments, notably the ADCC, ban it.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: Brazilian jiu-jitsu is one of the safest full contact martial arts. Its injury rate is around 9.2-38.6 per 1000 athlete exposures. This is lower than in mixed martial arts (236-286 per 1000), boxing (210-420 per 1000), judo (25.3-130.6) and taekwondo (20.5-139.5). It is similar to wrestling, which also uses grappling instead of striking. The few injuries that may be incurred in Brazilian jiu-jitsu usually affect the joints and rarely the head. The most common injuries Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioners suffer from are ACL tears, rotator cuff tears in the shoulders and spinal disc herniations, most commonly in the neck region. Many are repairable via surgery that require an extended rehab period before the athlete can return to BJJ training. Also many athletes suffer from minor injuries, such as elbow and wrist tendonitis, due to overtraining and the grappling nature of the martial art, which can be strenuous and taxing for the joints and the tendons.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: Besides the normal strains and pulls associated with most martial arts, Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioners (along with Wrestlers, Judoka, and other grapplers ) are exposed to regular skin abrasions and potential unsanitary mat conditions. They are thus at higher risk for developing skin disease. Several commonly contracted skin diseases include ringworm, impetigo, herpes gladiatorum, and staph infection. Proper hygiene practices, including regular cleaning of classroom mats, showering immediately after class with soap, disinfecting and covering any open wounds, thorough cleaning of any gi/rashguard/headgear used before the next class, not sharing used towels/uniforms, and using a barrier cream greatly reduces the chance of contracting a disease.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: Due to the use of the head to maintain position and attack in jiu-jitsu, the ears can easily be damaged and begin to swell. Without immediate medical treatment, the cartilage in a swollen ear will separate from the perichondrium that supplies its nutrients and will become permanently swollen/deformed (cauliflower ear). Wrestling headgear is sometimes used for the prevention of this condition. Treatment includes draining the hematoma or surgery.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: The practice of taking performance-enhancing drugs, including anabolic steroids, is believed to be relatively commonplace among competitors in jiu-jitsu tournaments and has sparked letters and public statements by some of jiu-jitsu's top competitors, including Comprido and Caio Terra. In response, the IBJJF began testing for performance-enhancing drugs at IBJJF sponsored events, starting with the 2013 Pan American Championship. However, most other tournaments tend to lack PED testing.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: A spinal lock is a multiple joint lock applied to the spinal column, which is performed by forcing the spine beyond its normal ranges of motion. This is typically done by bending or twisting the head or upper body into abnormal positions. Commonly, spinal locks might strain the spinal musculature or result in a mild spinal sprain, while a forcefully and/or suddenly applied spinal lock may cause severe ligament damage or damage to the vertebrae, and possibly result in serious spinal cord injury, strokes, or death. Spinal locks and cervical locks are forbidden in gi jiu-jitsu, amateur MMA, multiple forms of no-gi jiu-jitsu, Judo, and other martial arts. Due to its illegal nature and express purpose to cause serious, irrevocable bodily injury, paralysis, and death. The forceful application of chokes such as the Rear Naked Choke and subsequent cranking of the neck whilst being choked can potentially lead to arterial dissection, which could lead to stroke. Due care should be exercised when applying these chokes in sparring situations.


title: Brazilian jiu-jitsu

text: Keanu Reeves trained in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Rigan Machado for "John Wick 3". Robert Pattinson trained in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Rigan Machado for the 2021 film "The Batman". Russell Brand trains in BJJ at Genesis Gym Marlow. Ed O'Neill is a Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt under Rorion Gracie.


title: Stipe Miocic

text: Stipe Miocic (born August 19, 1982) is an American professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Heavyweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is a former two-time UFC Heavyweight Champion. Miocic is widely regarded by critics, commentators and media as the greatest UFC heavyweight fighter of all time. As of August 9, 2021, he is #2 in the UFC heavyweight rankings,


title: Stipe Miocic

text: Having successfully defended his title four times during his two title reigns, he holds the record for most wins in heavyweight title fights along with the longest title defending streak in the heavyweight division, at three consecutive defenses. Miocic holds the record for fight-night bonus awards, with nine, the most in the UFC heavyweight division's history.


title: Stipe Miocic

text: Prior to his MMA career, Miocic was a former Golden Gloves boxing champion and NCAA Division I wrestler at Cleveland State University.


title: Stipe Miocic

text: He was born and raised in Euclid, Ohio, on August 19, 1982, the son of Croatian immigrants Kathy and Bojan Miocic (, ;). His father originates from Rtina, while his mother is from Cetingrad, Croatia. His parents separated when he was still a child and he continued to live with his mother, initially with grandparents, and later lived with his stepfather and younger half-brother Jonathan.


title: Stipe Miocic

text: Since childhood, his mother encouraged his involvement in sports. Miocic played baseball and American football and wrestled while at Eastlake North High School. He received interest from Major League Baseball teams during his collegiate years at Cleveland State University and Trevecca Nazarene University. He also played Division II baseball at Coker College his junior year of college.


title: Stipe Miocic

text: At Trevecca, Miocic was a well-liked student majoring in communication studies. As a member of Jeff Forehand's baseball team, he hit .344 with seven home runs in his senior year and helped the Trojans win the 2005 TranSouth Athletic Conference regular season and tournament titles. None of his teammates at Trevecca are surprised by his success in MMA. He graduated from Trevecca Nazarene University. He majored in marketing and communications at CSU.


title: Stipe Miocic

text: During his school days, in 2005, he was brought as a training partner to wrestle with Dan Bobish in Strong Style MMA Training Centre, in Independence, Ohio. Miocic at the time trained various sports (wrestling and baseball), to once again come train with them after finishing his paramedic education at Cuyahoga Community College. He initially trained in mixed martial arts but soon changed to boxing. His coach Marcus Marinelli recalled that although he trained only for several months he was beating boxers with much longer experience. After only eight months of training with a background of being a Cleveland Golden Gloves boxing champion (reaching quarter-final in the nationals), and NCAA Division I wrestler at Cleveland State, Miocic began his MMA career by winning his first six fights by knockout. He initially fought for NAAFS (an Ohio-based MMA promotion), where he won the NAAFS Heavyweight Championship.


title: Stipe Miocic

text: Miocic made his UFC debut against Joey Beltran on October 8, 2011, at UFC 136 and won the fight via unanimous decision (29–28, 30–27, and 29–28).


title: Stipe Miocic

text: Miocic faced Phil De Fries on February 15, 2012, at . Miocic won the fight via first-round KO, and in the process won a "Knockout of the Night" award.


title: Stipe Miocic

text: Miocic faced promotional newcomer Shane del Rosario on May 26, 2012, at UFC 146. He won via TKO (elbows) in the second round.


title: Stipe Miocic

text: Miocic faced Stefan Struve on September 29, 2012, at UFC on Fuel TV 5. He lost the fight via TKO in the second round. The performance earned both participants "Fight of the Night" honors.


title: Stipe Miocic

text: Miocic was scheduled to face returning veteran Soa Palelei on June 15, 2013, at UFC 161. After an injury to UFC 161 headliner Renan Barao, the card was slightly reshuffled. Miocic was paired with Roy Nelson. Miocic, as a significant betting underdog, defeated Nelson via unanimous decision (30–27, 30–27, and 30–27).


title: Stipe Miocic

text: Miocic faced Gabriel Gonzaga on January 25, 2014, at UFC on Fox 10. He won the fight via unanimous decision (30–27, 30–27, and 29–28).


title: Stipe Miocic

text: Miocic was expected to face Junior dos Santos on May 24, 2014, at UFC 173. However, the bout was shifted a bit and was expected take place a week later on May 31, 2014, at . On May 5, 2014, dos Santos pulled out of the fight, citing a hand injury and was replaced by Fábio Maldonado. Miocic won the fight by TKO due to punches early in the first round and received a "Performance of the Night" bonus as well.


title: Stipe Miocic

text: A rescheduled bout with dos Santos eventually took place as the main event at UFC on Fox 13 on December 13, 2014. Miocic lost the back-and-forth fight by unanimous decision. The performance earned both participants "Fight of the Night" honors.


title: Stipe Miocic

text: Miocic faced Mark Hunt on May 10, 2015, at UFC Fight Night 65. Miocic won the one-sided fight via TKO in the fifth round. At the time of the stoppage, Miocic was ahead on all three scorecards (40–36, 40–35, and 40–34). Miocic set a UFC record for the most strikes landed in a fight and largest strike margin, outlanding Hunt 361–48 over the duration of the bout.


title: Stipe Miocic

text: Miocic was expected to face Ben Rothwell on October 24, 2015, at UFC Fight Night 76. However, Miocic pulled out of the fight on October 13 citing injury. Subsequently, Rothwell was removed from the card the following day after the promotion deemed that a suitable opponent could not be arranged on short notice. In turn, Miocic was quickly rebooked and faced Andrei Arlovski in a title eliminator on January 2, 2016, at UFC 195. Miocic defeated Arlovski via TKO at 0:54 in the first round. The win also earned him his second "Performance of the Night" bonus award.


title: Stipe Miocic

text: Miocic was briefly scheduled to replace the injured Cain Velasquez and fight Fabrício Werdum for the UFC Heavyweight Championship on February 6, 2016, at UFC Fight Night 82. On January 25, 2016, the day after this announcement, Werdum pulled out of the fight with a back injury.


title: Stipe Miocic

text: Miocic eventually faced Werdum at UFC 198 on May 14, 2016. He caught Werdum with a short right hook counter while backpedaling away from a flurry of punches in the first round, earning the championship and giving Werdum his first defeat since June 2011. He was also awarded a "Performance of the Night" bonus.


title: Stipe Miocic

text: On September 10, 2016, Miocic made his first title defense at UFC 203 against Alistair Overeem. Although he got knocked down early in the fight, he came back quickly and won via knockout in the first round. Both participants were awarded "Fight of the Night" honors.


title: Stipe Miocic

text: Miocic made his second title defense against Junior dos Santos on May 13, 2017, at UFC 211 in a rematch. Dos Santos previously beat Miocic by a close unanimous decision at in 2014. However, this time Miocic started strong and took control of the octagon early. Despite taking hard kicks to the shin, Miocic landed powerful punches with devastating accuracy to drop dos Santos, he then followed up with ground and pound to win the fight via TKO midway through the first round. The win also earned Miocic his fourth "Performance of the Night" bonus award.


title: Stipe Miocic

text: Miocic faced Francis Ngannou on January 20, 2018, at UFC 220. The fight was anticipated as one of the most exciting in UFC history, and Miocic openly felt disrespected because he never received the amount of promotion and support Ngannou did from UFC. Miocic dominated Ngannou for five rounds using strikes with clinch or ground control following takedowns, winning by unanimous decision and breaking the record for most consecutive title defenses for the heavyweight championship with his third successful defense. When he was announced as the winner, instead of the usual practice, he took the belt from Dana White and had his coach Marcus Marinelli put it around him. Miocic received congratulations from both the President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović and Prime Minister of Croatia Andrej Plenković.


title: Stipe Miocic

text: For his fourth title defense, Miocic faced UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Daniel Cormier on July 7, 2018, in the main event at UFC 226. The champion vs. champion matchup was billed as "The Superfight". Miocic was the favorite heading into the bout, mainly due to his natural size and power advantage as well as his dangerous striking on the feet. He lost the fight via knockout in the first round, ending his championship reign. The knockout came in controversial fashion, as Cormier was warned multiple times by referee Marc Goddard for extending his fingers towards Miocic's face and poking him in the eye.


title: Stipe Miocic

text: A rematch between Miocic and Daniel Cormier took place on August 17, 2019, at UFC 241 for the UFC Heavyweight Championship. Miocic won the fight by TKO in the fourth round after landing several clean left hooks to the body and following it up with punches to the head, reclaiming the title. This win earned him the" Performance of the Night" award. Miocic would not return to action until 2020 after suffering retinal damage in the fight due to Cormier accidentally poking him in the eye during the fight.


title: Stipe Miocic

text: On June 9, 2020, it was announced that the trilogy bout between Miocic and Cormier was signed to take place at UFC 252 on August 15, 2020. Miocic won the fight via unanimous decision, this time with both fighters receiving eye pokes during the fight.


title: Stipe Miocic

text: Miocic faced Francis Ngannou in a rematch on March 27, 2021, at UFC 260. He lost the title via knockout in the second round.


title: Stipe Miocic

text: Miocic works as a part-time firefighter paramedic in Oakwood and Valley View, Ohio. He considers it possible that he will become a full-time firefighter once he retires from MMA. When asked by Joe Rogan why he still works as a firefighter despite being a UFC champion, he stated that he needs something to fall back to after his fighting career is over. He married Ryan Marie Carney on June 18, 2016, at the Divine Word Catholic Church in Kirtland, Ohio. On January 20, 2018, Miocic announced that the couple are expecting their first child. His daughter, Meelah, was born in 2018. They welcomed their second child, a boy named Mateo Cruz, on August 28, 2021 as announced on Miocic's instagram by Bruce Buffer.


title: Boston Red Sox

text: The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox' home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox" name was chosen by the team owner, John I. Taylor, , following the lead of previous teams that had been known as the "Boston Red Stockings," including the Boston Braves (now the Atlanta Braves). The team has won nine World Series championships, tied for the third-most of any MLB team, and has played in 13 World Series. Their most recent World Series appearance and win was in . In addition, they won the American League pennant, but were not able to defend their 1903 World Series championship when the New York Giants refused to participate in the 1904 World Series.


title: Boston Red Sox

text: The Red Sox were a dominant team in the new league, defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first World Series in 1903 and winning four more championships by 1918. However, they then went into one of the longest championship droughts in baseball history, dubbed the "Curse of the Bambino" after its alleged inception due to the Red Sox' sale of star player Babe Ruth to the rival New York Yankees two years after their World Championship in 1918. The Sox endured an 86-year wait before the team's sixth World Championship in . The team's history during that period was punctuated with some of the most memorable moments in World Series history, including Enos Slaughter's "mad dash" in , the "Impossible Dream" of , Carlton Fisk's home run in , and Bill Buckner's error in . Following their victory in the 2018 World Series, they became the first team to win four World Series trophies in the 21st century, with championships in , , and 2018. The team's history has also been marked by the team's intense rivalry with the New York Yankees, arguably the fiercest and most historic in North American professional sports.


title: Boston Red Sox

text: The Red Sox are owned by Fenway Sports Group, which also owns Liverpool F.C. of the Premier League in England. They are consistently one of the top MLB teams in average road attendance, while the small capacity of Fenway Park prevents them from leading in overall attendance. From May 15, 2003, to April 10, 2013, the Red Sox sold out every home game—a total of 820 games (794 regular season) for a major professional sports record. Both Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" and The Standells' "Dirty Water" have become anthems for the Red Sox.


title: Boston Red Sox

text: The name "Red Sox", chosen by owner John I. Taylor after the 1907 season, refers to the red hose in the team uniform beginning in 1908. "Sox" had been previously adopted for the Chicago White Sox by newspapers needing a headline-friendly form of "Stockings", as "Stockings Win!" in large type did not fit in a column. The team name "Red Sox" had previously been used as early as 1888 by a 'colored' team from Norfolk, Virginia. The Spanish language media sometimes refers to the team as "Medias Rojas", a translation of "red socks". The official Spanish site uses the variant "Los Red Sox".


title: Boston Red Sox

text: The Red Stockings nickname was previously used by the Cincinnati Red Stockings, who were members of the pioneering National Association of Base Ball Players. Managed by Harry Wright, Cincinnati adopted a uniform with white knickers and red stockings and earned the famous nickname, a year or two before hiring the first fully professional team in 1869. When the club folded after the 1870 season, Wright was hired by Boston businessman Ivers Whitney Adams to organize a new team in Boston, and he brought three teammates and the "Red Stockings" nickname along. (Most nicknames were then unofficial — neither club names nor registered trademarks — so the migration was informal.) The Boston Red Stockings won four championships in the five seasons of the new National Association, the first professional league.


title: Boston Red Sox

text: When a new Cincinnati club was formed as a charter member of the National League in 1876, the "Red Stockings" nickname was commonly reserved for them once again, and the Boston team was referred to as the "Red Caps". Other names were sometimes used before Boston officially adopted the nickname "Braves" in 1912; the club eventually left Boston for Milwaukee and is now playing in Atlanta.


title: Boston Red Sox

text: In 1901, the upstart American League established a competing club in Boston. (Originally, a team was supposed to be started in Buffalo, but league ownership at the last minute removed that city from their plans in favor of the expansion Boston franchise.) For seven seasons, the AL team wore "dark blue" stockings and had no official nickname. They were simply "Boston", "Bostonians" or "the Bostons"; or the "Americans" or "Boston Americans" as in "American Leaguers", Boston being a two-team city. Their 1901–1907 jerseys, both home, and road, just read "Boston", except for 1902 when they sported large letters "B" and "A" denoting "Boston" and "American." Newspaper writers of the time used other nicknames for the club, including "Somersets" (for owner Charles Somers), "Plymouth Rocks", "Beaneaters", the "Collinsites" (for manager Jimmy Collins)", and "Pilgrims."


title: Boston Red Sox

text: For years many sources have listed "Pilgrims" as the early Boston AL team's "official" nickname, but researcher Bill Nowlin has demonstrated that the name was barely used, if at all, during the team's early years. The origin of the nickname appears to be a poem entitled "The Pilgrims At Home" written by Edwin Fitzwilliam that was sung at the 1907 home opener ("Rory O'More" melody). This nickname was commonly used during that season, perhaps because the team had a new manager and several rookie players. John I. Taylor had said in December 1907 that the Pilgrims "sounded too much like homeless wanderers."


title: Boston Red Sox

text: The National League club in Boston, though seldom called the "Red Stockings" anymore, still wore red trim. In 1907, the National League club adopted an all-white uniform, and the American League team saw an opportunity. On December 18, 1907, Taylor announced that the club had officially adopted red as its new team color. The 1908 uniforms featured a large icon of a red stocking angling across the shirt front. For 1908, the National League club returned to wearing red trim, but the American League team finally had an official nickname and remained the "Red Sox" for good.


title: Boston Red Sox

text: The name is often shortened to "Bosox" or "BoSox", a combination of "Boston" and "Sox" (similar to the "ChiSox" in Chicago or the minor league "PawSox" of Pawtucket). Sportswriters sometimes refer to the Red Sox as the "Crimson Hose" and "the Olde Towne Team". Recently, media have begun to call them the "Sawx" casually, reflecting how the word is pronounced with a New England accent. However, most fans simply refer to the team as the "Sox" when the context is understood to mean Red Sox.


title: Boston Red Sox

text: The formal name of the entity which owns the team is "Boston Red Sox Baseball Club Limited Partnership". The name shown on a door near the main entrance to Fenway Park, "Boston American League Baseball Company", was used prior to the team's reorganization as a limited partnership on May 26, 1978. The entrance also figures in Robert B. Parker's Spenser-and-baseball novel "Mortal Stakes".


title: Boston Red Sox

text: In 1901, the minor Western League, led by Ban Johnson, declared itself to be equal to the National League, then the only major league in baseball. Johnson had changed the name of the league to the American League prior to the 1900 season. In 1901, the league created a franchise in Boston, called the "Boston Americans", to compete with the National League team there.


title: Boston Red Sox

text: Playing their home games at Huntington Avenue Grounds, the Boston franchise finished second in the league in 1901 and third in 1902. The team was originally owned by C.W. Somers. In January 1902, he sold all but one share of the team to Henry Killilea.


title: Boston Red Sox

text: The early teams were led by manager and star third baseman Jimmy Collins, outfielders Chick Stahl, Buck Freeman, and Patsy Dougherty, and pitcher Cy Young, who in 1901 won the pitching Triple Crown with 33 wins (41.8% of the team's 79 wins), 1.62 ERA and 158 strikeouts.


title: Boston Red Sox

text: In 1903, the team won their first American League pennant and, as a result, Boston participated in the first modern World Series, going up against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Aided by the modified chants of "Tessie" by the Royal Rooters fan club and by its stronger pitching staff, the Americans won the best-of-nine series five games to three.


title: Boston Red Sox

text: In April 1904, the team was purchased by John I. Taylor of Boston. The 1904 team found itself in a pennant race against the New York Highlanders. A predecessor to what became a storied rivalry, this race featured the trade of Patsy Dougherty to the Highlanders for Bob Unglaub. In order to win the pennant, the Highlanders needed to win both games of their final doubleheader with the Americans at the Highlanders' home stadium, Hilltop Park. With Jack Chesbro on the mound, and the score tied 2–2 with a man on third in the top of the ninth, a spitball got away from Chesbro and Lou Criger scored the go-ahead run and the Americans won their second pennant. However, the NL champion New York Giants declined to play any postseason series, but a sharp public reaction led the two leagues to make the World Series a permanent championship, starting in 1905.


title: Boston Red Sox

text: In 1906, Boston lost 105 games and finished last in the league. In December 1907, Taylor proposed that the Boston Americans name change to the Boston Red Sox.


title: Boston Red Sox

text: By 1909, center fielder Tris Speaker had become a fixture in the Boston outfield, and the team finished the season in third place. In 1912, the Red Sox won 105 games and the pennant. The 105 wins stood as the club record until the 2018 club won 108. Anchored by an outfield including Tris Speaker, Harry Hooper and Duffy Lewis, and pitcher Smoky Joe Wood, the Red Sox beat the New York Giants 4–3–1 in the 1912 World Series best known for Snodgrass's Muff.


title: Boston Red Sox

text: From 1913 to 1916 the Red Sox were owned by Joseph Lannin. In 1914, Lannin signed a young up-and-coming pitcher named Babe Ruth from the Baltimore Orioles of the International League. In 1915, the team won 101 games and went on to the 1915 World Series, where they beat the Philadelphia Phillies four games to one. Following the 1915 season, Tris Speaker was traded to the Cleveland Indians. The Red Sox went on to win the 1916 World Series, defeating the Brooklyn Robins.


title: Boston Red Sox

text: Harry Frazee bought the Red Sox from Joseph Lannin in 1916 for about $675,000. In 1918, Babe Ruth led the team to another World Series championship over the Chicago Cubs.


title: Boston Red Sox

text: Prior to the sale of Babe Ruth, multiple trades occurred between the Red Sox and the Yankees. On December 18, 1918, outfielder Duffy Lewis, pitcher Dutch Leonard and pitcher Ernie Shore were traded to the Yankees for pitcher Ray Caldwell, Slim Love, Roxy Walters, Frank Gilhooley and $15,000. In July 1919, pitcher Carl Mays quit the team and then was traded to the Yankees for Bob McGraw, Allan Russell and $40,000.


title: Boston Red Sox

text: After Mays was traded, league president Ban Johnson suspended him due to his breaking of his contract with the Red Sox. The Yankees went to court after Johnson suspended Mays. After the Yankees were able to play Mays, the American League split into two factions: the Yankees, Red Sox and White Sox, known as the "Insurrectos," versus Johnson and the remaining five clubs, a.k.a. the "Loyal Five".


title: Boston Red Sox

text: On December 26, 1919, the team sold Babe Ruth, who had played the previous six seasons for the Red Sox, to the rival New York Yankees. The sale was announced on January 6, 1920. In 1919, Ruth had broken the single-season home run record, hitting 29 home runs. It was believed that Frazee sold Ruth to finance the Broadway musical "No, No, Nanette". While No, No, Nanette did not open on Broadway until 1925, Leigh Montville's book, "The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth", reports that "No, No, Nanette" had originated as a non-musical stage play called "My Lady Friends", which opened on Broadway in December 1919. According to the book, "My Lady Friends" had been financed by Ruth's sale to the Yankees. The sale of Babe Ruth came to be viewed as the beginning of the Yankees–Red Sox rivalry, considered the "best rivalry" by American sports journalists.


title: Boston Red Sox

text: In the December 1920, Wally Schang, Waite Hoyt, Harry Harper and Mike McNally were traded to the Yankees for Del Pratt, Muddy Ruel, Hank Thormahlen, Sammy Vick. The following winter, shortstop Everett Scott, and pitchers Bullet Joe Bush and Sad Sam Jones were traded to the Yankees for Roger Peckinpaugh, who was immediately traded to the Washington Senators, Jack Quinn, Rip Collins, Bill Piercy.


title: Boston Red Sox

text: On July 23, 1922, Joe Dugan and Elmer Smith were traded to the Yankees for Elmer Miller, Chick Fewster, Johnny Mitchell, and Lefty O'Doul. Acquiring Dugan helped the Yankees edge the St. Louis Browns in a tight pennant race. After late trades in 1922, a June 15 trading deadline went into effect. In 1923, Herb Pennock was traded by the Red Sox to the Yankees for Camp Skinner, Norm McMillan, and George Murray.


title: Boston Red Sox

text: The loss of several top players sent the Red Sox into free fall. During the 1920s and early 1930s, the Red Sox were fixtures in the second division, never finishing closer than 20 games out of first. The losses increased after Frazee sold the team to Bob Quinn in 1923. The team bottomed out in 1932 with a record of 43–111, still the worst record in franchise history. However, in 1931, Earl Webb set the all-time mark for most doubles in a season with 67.


title: Boston Red Sox

text: In 1933, Tom Yawkey bought the team. Yawkey acquired pitchers Wes Ferrell and Lefty Grove, Joe Cronin, a shortstop and manager, and first baseman Jimmie Foxx. In 1938, Foxx hit 50 home runs, which stood as a club record for 68 years. That year Foxx also set a club-record of 175 runs.


title: Boston Red Sox

text: In 1939, the Red Sox purchased the contract of outfielder Ted Williams from the minor league San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League, ushering in an era of the team sometimes called the "Ted Sox." Williams consistently hit for both high power and high average, and is generally considered one of the greatest hitters of all time. The right-field bullpens in Fenway were built in part for Williams' left-handed swing, and are sometimes called "Williamsburg." Before this addition, it was over to right field. He served two stints in the United States Marine Corps as a pilot and saw active duty in both World War II and the Korean War, missing at least five full seasons of baseball. His book "The Science of Hitting" is widely read by students of baseball. He is currently the last player to hit over .400 for a full season, batting .406 in 1941. Williams feuded with sports writers his whole career, calling them "The Knights of the Keyboard", and his relationship with the fans was often rocky as he was seen spitting towards the stands on more than one occasion.


title: Boston Red Sox

text: With Williams, the Red Sox reached the 1946 World Series but lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games in part because of the use of the "Williams Shift", a defensive tactic in which the shortstop moves to the right side of the infield to make it harder for the left-handed-hitting Williams to hit to that side of the field. Some have claimed that he was too proud to hit to the other side of the field, not wanting to let the Cardinals take away his game. His performance may have also been affected by a pitch he took in the elbow in an exhibition game a few days earlier. Either way, in his only World Series, Williams gathered just five singles in 25 at-bats for a .200 average.


title: Boston Red Sox

text: The Cardinals won the 1946 Series when Enos Slaughter scored the go-ahead run all the way from first base on a base hit to left field. The throw from Leon Culberson was cut off by shortstop Johnny Pesky, who relayed the ball to the plate just a hair too late. Some say Pesky hesitated or "held the ball" before he turned to throw the ball, but this has been disputed.


title: Boston Red Sox

text: Along with Williams and Pesky, the Red Sox featured several other star players during the 1940s, including second baseman Bobby Doerr and center fielder Dom DiMaggio (the younger brother of Joe DiMaggio).


title: Boston Red Sox

text: The Red Sox narrowly lost the AL pennant in 1948 and 1949. In 1948, Boston finished in a tie with Cleveland, and their loss to Cleveland in a one-game playoff ended hopes of an all-Boston World Series. Curiously, manager Joseph McCarthy chose journeyman Denny Galehouse to start the playoff game when the young lefty phenom Mel Parnell was available to pitch. In 1949, the Red Sox were one game ahead of the New York Yankees, with the only two games left for both teams being against each other, and they lost both of those games.


title: Boston Red Sox

text: The 1950s were viewed as a time of tribulation for the Red Sox. After Williams returned from the Korean War in 1953, many of the best players from the late 1940s had retired or been traded. The stark contrast in the team led critics to call the Red Sox' daily lineup "Ted Williams and the Seven Dwarfs." Jackie Robinson was even worked out by the team at Fenway Park, however, owner Tom Yawkey did not want an African American player on his team. Willie Mays also tried out for Boston and was highly praised by team scouts. In 1955, Frank Malzone debuted at third base and Ted Williams hit .388 at the age of 38 in 1957, but there was little else for Boston fans to root for. Williams retired at the end of the 1960 season, famously hitting a home run in his final at-bat as memorialized in the John Updike story "Hub fans bid Kid adieu." The Red Sox finally became the last Major League team to field an African American player when they promoted infielder Pumpsie Green from their AAA farm team in 1959.


title: Boston Red Sox

text: The 1960s also started poorly for the Red Sox, though 1961 saw the debut of Carl "Yaz" Yastrzemski, Williams' replacement in left field, who developed into one of the better hitters of a pitching-rich decade.


title: Boston Red Sox

text: Red Sox fans know 1967 as the season of the "Impossible Dream." The slogan refers to the hit song from the popular musical play "Man of La Mancha". 1967 saw one of the great pennant races in baseball history with four teams in the AL pennant race until almost the last game. The BoSox had finished the 1966 season in ninth place, but they found new life with Yastrzemski as the team won the pennant to reach the 1967 World Series. Yastrzemski won the American League Triple Crown (the most recent player to accomplish such a feat until Miguel Cabrera did so in 2012), hitting .326 with 44 home runs and 121 runs batted in. He was named the league's Most Valuable Player, just one vote shy of a unanimous selection as a Minnesota sportswriter placed Twins center fielder César Tovar first on his ballot. But the Red Sox lost the series to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games. Cardinals pitcher Bob Gibson stymied the Red Sox, winning three games.


title: Boston Red Sox

text: An 18-year-old Bostonian rookie named Tony Conigliaro slugged 24 home runs in 1964. "Tony C" became the youngest player in Major League Baseball to hit his 100th home run, a record that stands today. He was struck just above the left cheek bone by a fastball thrown by Jack Hamilton of the California Angels on Friday, August 18, 1967, and sat out the entire next season with headaches and blurred vision. Although he did have a productive season in 1970, he was never the same.


title: Boston Red Sox

text: Although the Red Sox were competitive for much of the late 1960s and early 1970s, they never finished higher than second place in their division. The closest they came to a divisional title was 1972 when they lost by a half-game to the Detroit Tigers. The start of the season was delayed by a players' strike, and the Red Sox had lost one more game to the strike than the Tigers had. Games lost to the strike were not made up. The Red Sox went to Detroit with a half-game lead for the final series of the season, but lost the first two of those three and were eliminated from the pennant race.


title: Boston Red Sox

text: The Red Sox won the AL pennant in 1975. The 1975 Red Sox were as colorful as they were talented, with Yastrzemski and rookie outfielders Jim Rice and Fred Lynn, veteran outfielder Dwight Evans, catcher Carlton Fisk, and pitchers Luis Tiant and eccentric junkballer Bill "The Spaceman" Lee. Fred Lynn won both the American League Rookie of the Year award and the Most Valuable Player award, a feat which had never previously been accomplished, and was not duplicated until Ichiro Suzuki did it in 2001. In the 1975 American League Championship Series, the Red Sox swept the Oakland A's.


title: Boston Red Sox

text: In the 1975 World Series, they faced the heavily favored Cincinnati Reds, also known as The Big Red Machine. Luis Tiant won games 1 and 4 of the World Series but after five games, the Red Sox trailed the series 3 games to 2. Game 6 at Fenway Park is considered among the greatest games in postseason history. Down 6–3 in the bottom of the eighth inning, Red Sox pinch hitter Bernie Carbo hit a three-run homer into the center field bleachers off Reds fireman Rawly Eastwick to tie the game. In the top of the 11th inning, right fielder Dwight Evans made a spectacular catch of a Joe Morgan line drive and doubled off Ken Griffey at first base to preserve the tie. In the bottom of the 12th inning, Carlton Fisk hit a deep fly ball that sliced towards the left-field foul pole above the Green Monster. As the ball sailed into the night, Fisk waved his arms frantically towards fair territory, seemingly pleading with the ball not to go foul. The ball complied, and bedlam ensued at Fenway as Fisk rounded the bases to win the game for the Red Sox 7–6.


title: Boston Red Sox

text: The Red Sox lost game 7, 4–3 even though they had an early 3–0 lead. Starting pitcher Bill Lee threw a slow looping curve which he called a "Leephus pitch" or "space ball" to Reds first baseman Tony Pérez who hit the ball over the Green Monster and across the street. The Reds scored the winning run in the 9th inning. Carlton Fisk said famously about the 1975 World Series, "We won that thing 3 games to 4."


title: Boston Red Sox

text: In 1978, the Red Sox and the Yankees were involved in a tight pennant race. The Yankees were games behind the Red Sox in July, and on September 10, after completing a 4-game sweep of the Red Sox (known as "The Boston Massacre"), the Yankees tied for the divisional lead.


title: Boston Red Sox

text: On September 16 the Yankees held a game lead over the Red Sox, but the Sox won 11 of their next 13 games and by the final day of the season, the Yankees' magic number to win the division was one—with a win over Cleveland or a Boston loss to the Toronto Blue Jays clinching the division. However, New York lost 9–2 and Boston won 5–0, forcing a one-game playoff to be held at Fenway Park on Monday, October 2.


title: Boston Red Sox

text: The most remembered moment from the game was Bucky Dent's 7th inning three-run home run in off Mike Torrez just over the Green Monster, giving the Yankees their first lead. The dejected Boston manager, Don Zimmer, gave Mr. Dent a new middle name which lives on in Boston sports lore to this day, uttering three words as the ball sailed over the left-field wall: "Bucky Fucking Dent!" Reggie Jackson provided a solo home run in the 8th that proved to be the difference in the Yankees' 5–4 win, which ended with Yastrzemski popping out to Graig Nettles in foul territory with Rick Burleson representing the tying run at third. Although Dent became a Red Sox demon, the Red Sox got retribution in 1990 when the Yankees fired Dent as their manager during a series at Fenway Park.


title: Boston Red Sox

text: Carl Yastrzemski retired after the 1983 season, during which the Red Sox finished sixth in the seven-team AL East, posting their worst record since 1966.


title: Boston Red Sox

text: However, in 1986, it appeared that the team's fortunes were about to change. The offense had remained strong with Jim Rice, Dwight Evans, Don Baylor and Wade Boggs. Roger Clemens led the pitching staff, going 24–4 with a 2.48 ERA, and had a 20-strikeout game to win both the American League Cy Young and Most Valuable Player awards. Clemens became the first starting pitcher to win both awards since Vida Blue in 1971. Despite spending a month and a half on the disabled list in the middle of the season, left-hander Bruce Hurst went 13–8, striking out 167 and pitching four shutout games. Boston sportswriters that season compared Clemens and Hurst to Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax from the 1960s Los Angeles Dodgers.


title: Boston Red Sox

text: The Red Sox won the AL East for the first time in 11 seasons, and faced the California Angels in the ALCS. The teams split the first two games in Boston, but the Angels won the next two home games, taking a 3–1 lead in the series. With the Angels poised to win the series, the Red Sox trailed 5–2 heading into the ninth inning of Game 5. A two-run homer by Baylor cut the lead to one. With two outs and a runner on, and one strike away from elimination, Dave Henderson homered off Donnie Moore to put Boston up 6–5. Although the Angels tied the game in the bottom of the ninth, the Red Sox won in the 11th on a Henderson sacrifice fly off Moore. The Red Sox then found themselves with six- and seven-run wins at Fenway Park in Games 6 and 7 to win the American League title.