By Bob Berry

Today, 10/7, is the anniversary of one of the most-controversial moments in World Series history.

It wasn’t a called strike, a play at the plate, or a fan “going Bartman“. In fact, it was during pre-game for Game 5 of the 1968 World Series with the Tigers and the St. Louis Cardinals.

It was Jose Feliciano, appearing at the the personal invitation of Tiger icon Ernie Harwell, singing his very personal interpretation (and instantly controversial) of our National Anthem.

And boy, did it hit the fan!

“Un-American” might have been the most PG thing that was said to describe his singing. And, yeah, it was different, but to my ears then and now, hardly disrespectful. Hardly the lows of Roseanne, or Carl Lewis in later years.

Jose’, who had been on top of the charts with his version of The Doors‘ “Light My Fire”; saw his career among English-speaking audiences fall apart in the aftermath, save for 1970’s “Feliz Navidad“. And, in a nice moment of closure, was cheered when he reprised his performance at Comerica Park in 2010, after Ernie Harwell’s death.

BTW. There is one other “note” to this story. Ernie, who was also a songwriter (with “lots of no-hitters“) had been put in charge of selecting the singers for each of the 3 home games at Tiger Stadium. For Game 4, and with no disrespect to Mr. Feliciano, his National Anthem singer hit a home run!

40 years ago, 23 year old Jose Feliciano sat before a public address microphone at Tiger Stadium. Detroit was playing in the World Series and Tiger broadcaster Ernie Harwell was assigned the job of selecting the talent to render The National Anthem. Jose followed Marvin Gaye, who sang a straight version after the Tigers directed Harwell to admonish the Motown superstar to keep things traditional. Today, Jose’s rendition sounds tame in comparison to the diverse interpretations we hear at almost every sporting event. But in the day it generated a firestorm of controversy. Here’s NPR’s excellent remembrance of how it happened. (Special thanks to Keenerfan Jim Feliciano for the picture and recording of Jose’s performance at Michigan and Trumbull.)