Agnew Resigns. Mets up 2-0.

On Oct. 10, 1973, the Mets and Reds were playing the fifth and deciding game of the NLCS. On that same afternoon, another momentous event occurred: Vice President Spiro T. Agnew resigned. Justice Potter Stewart decided that this news couldn't wait for a break in the court's proceedings, so he slipped a note to Justice Harry Blackmun. The note, below, was discovered in the National Archives.

According to an article by Skip Card in the March/April 2005 issue of the New York State Bar Journal, this note wasn't unusual: Stewart, a Reds fan, had been getting half-inning updates throughout the playoffs. An earlier note, detailing the top of the first, was even more detailed, reports Card:

Rose grounded to 2nd.
Morgan walked.
Driessen singled and Morgan took 3rd.
Driessen took 2nd on WP.
Perez struck out swinging.
Bench walked intentionally.
Griffey flied to center w/ bases loaded.
NO SCORE.

No telling how Stewart reacted to the final result: Mets 7, Reds 2, Mets win the NLCS. But he probably poured himself a stiff one -- and stopped passing notes during the A's-Mets World Series.