May 9, 2008

420 years ago
1588

War
Henri I , le duc de Guise’s troops occupied Paris, forcing King Henri III to flee.

220 years ago
1788

Protest
The English parliament accepted petitions calling for the abolition of the slave trade.

140 years ago
1868

Music
Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 1 in C received its premiere performance in Vienna.

120 years ago
1888

Baseball
With a twelve-run lead, Louisville Colonels' right-handed pitcher Icebox Chamberlain held the Kansas City Cowboys scoreless, pitching left-handed for the last two innings.

100 years ago
1908

Born on this date
Billy Jurges. U.S. baseball player and manager. Mr. Jurges, who played mostly at shortstop, spent 17 years in the National League with the Chicago Cubs (1931-1938, 1946-1947) and New York Giants (1939-1945). In 1,816 games he batted .258. Mr. Jurges played in three World Series with the Cubs (1932, 1935, 1938). Future U.S. President Ronald Reagan was a radio broadcaster of Cubs’ games in the early 1930s, and he and Mr. Jurges became lifelong friends. Mr. Jurges took over as manager of the Boston Red Sox midway through the 1959 season, but his nervous temperament was unsuited for the position, and he was fired at about the same point in the 1960 season. The Red Sox posted 78 wins and 83 losses under Mr. Jurges as manager. Billy Jurges died on March 3, 1997 at the age of 88.

Died on this date
Charlie Nyce, 37. U.S. baseball player. Mr. Nyce, an infielder, batted .229 with 2 home runs and 9 runs batted in 9 games with the Boston Beaneaters in 1895. He died of consumption.

Politics and government
Dirk Fock took office as Governor of Suriname.

Baseball
Art Devlin cracked a first inning double with the bases loaded and the New York Giants scored 7 runs off Irv Young in the first 2 innings. Christy Mathewson scattered 10 Boston Braves’ hits in coasting to a 7-3 win.

80 years ago
1928

Died on this date
Constantin Dimitrescu, 81. Romanian musician and composer. Mr. Dimitrescu was principal cellist of the Bucharest Philharmonic and National Theater Orchestras. A Romantic composer, he had a great love for chamber music, and composed seven string quartets.

Royal V. Thomas, 23. U.S. aviator. Lieutenant Thomas, a champion solo duration flier, and his engineer, Vaughn Weatherby, were killed when their plane, flying low in speed tests, fell to the ground.

Aviation
The crew of the Bremen--Gunther von Huenefeld, James Fitzmaurice, and Herman Koehl--flew from Curtiss Field, Long Island, New York, to Philadelphia on their continental tour.

U.S. President Calvin Coolidge declined an invitation from Russ Halley of Rapid City, South Dakota, to go up in an airplane.

Adventure
Ryvkichi Matsui arrived back in Tokyo 36 days after leaving the city to circle the globe, heading west. Toichi Araki had also left Tokyo on April 6, heading east. He hadn't yet returned by May 9.

Scandal
Impeachment charges brought against judges George Carpenter, James Wilkerson, and Adam Cliffe of the Chicago Federal District Court were dismissed by the U.S. House Representatives Judiciary Committee at Washington.

75 years ago
1933

Protest
Spanish anarchists called for a general strike.

Baseball
The Detroit Tigers sold outfielder Earl Webb to the Chicago White Sox. Mr. Webb, who was hitting .273 in 6 games with the Tigers, hit .290 in 58 games with the White Sox, ending his 7-year major league career with a .306 average in 649 games.

70 years ago
1938

Baseball
Jimmie Foxx drove in 5 runs on a pair of home runs to pace the Boston Red Sox to a 15-3 drubbing of the Cleveland Indians at Fenway Park. Jim Bagby was the winning pitcher.

60 years ago
1948

On the radio
The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes on MBS, starring John Stanley and Alfred Shirley
Tonight's episode: The Adventure of the Illustrious Client

Baseball
In the second game of the Sunday doubleheader between the Pirates and the Dodgers, the umpire continued the game through a 7 P.M. curfew because he believed the Pittsburgh Pirates to be stalling with a 5-4 lead. The Dodgers passed the Pirates for a 7-5 lead, but Ralph Kiner hit a 3-run home run to carry Pittsburgh to a 10-8 victory. The Pirates were fined $100 for violating the curfew.

The Cleveland Indians swept a pair at Fenway Park, beating the Red Sox 4-1 in 10 innings, and 9-5. A Ted Williams home run in the opener was the only Red Sox score, while Ken Keltner belted a pair of homers. They both added another in the nightcap, but Larry Doby clouted a monstrous 2-run shot to dead centre for the Indians. He added another in a win the next day as Cleveland stayed percentage points ahead of the Philadelphia Athletics for first place in the American League.

50 years ago
1958

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): Whole Lotta Woman--Marvin Rainwater (3rd week at #1)

On television tonight
Harbor Command, starring Wendell Corey
Tonight's episode: Smallpox

Died on this date
Bill Goodwin, 47. U.S. radio and television announcer. Mr. Goodwin was the announcer for both the radio and television programs of George Burns and Gracie Allen. His last job was as the announcer for The Bob Hope Show on NBC radio from 1953-1955. Mr. Goodwin also appeared in several movies, such as The Stork Club (1945); The Jolson Story (1946); Tea For Two (1950); and The Big Beat (1958). He died of a heart attack.

Chess
Mikhail Botvinnik recaptured the world chess championship by defeating Vasily Smyslov in a rematch in Moscow. Mr. Smyslov had taken the title from Mr. Botvinnik the previous year.

Baseball
The Detroit Tigers bought pitcher Herm Wehmeier from the St. Louis Cardinals. After going 0-1 with a 13.50 earned run average in 3 games with the Cardinals, the 13-year veteran finished his major league career by going 1-0 with a 2.35 ERA in 7 games with the Tigers.

After six straight home rainouts, the New York Yankees played their first home night game of the year, against the Washington Senators. Mickey Mantle broke a 2-2 tie in the 3rd inning with an inside-the-park solo home run off Pedro Ramos. New York rolled to a 9-5 win at Yankee Stadium.

40 years ago
1968

Died on this date
Finlay Currie, 90. U.K. actor. Mr. Currie was best known for film roles in his later years, including 49th Parallel (1941); Great Expectations (1946); Quo Vadis (1951); Ivanhoe (1952); Ben-Hur (1959); and The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964).

Marion Lorne, 84. U.S. actress. Miss Lorne played Aunt Clara in the 1960s television comedy series Bewitched, and won a posthumous Emmy Award in 1968 for supporting role in a comedy. Her first movie role was as Robert Walker’s mother in Strangers on a Train (1951); her last movie role was a bit part in The Graduate (1967).

Harold Gray, 74. U.S. cartoonist. Mr. Gray created the comic strip Little Orphan Annie in 1924, and wrote and drew the strip until his death.

Phil Arnold, 58. U.S. actor. Mr. Arnold had small roles in many movies and television shows, too numerous to mention here. His last appearance was in Otto Preminger’s stinker Skidoo (1968). Mr. Arnold died of a heart attack; it’s unknown if this was caused by appearing in such a turkey.

Labour
The United Steelworkers of America endorsed Vice President Hubert Humphrey as their U.S. presidential candidate of choice.

At the United Auto Workers of America convention in Atlantic City, delegates approved withholding AFL-CIO dues, which were to be put in escrow pending a special convention sought by the UAW to hear the auto union’s demands for reform.

Disasters
12 wedding guests were killed when the balcony of a house in Patna, India collapsed.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Finals
St. Louis 3 @ Montreal 4 (OT) (Montreal led best-of-seven series 3-0)

Bobby Rousseau scored at 1:13 of overtime to give the Canadiens their win over the Blues at the Montreal Forum.

30 years ago
1978

On television tonight
Family, on ABC
Tonight's episode: Sleeping Gypsy

Died on this date
Aldo Moro, 61. Italian politician. The former Prime Minister, who probably would have become the country’s next President, was kidnapped by Red Brigade terrorists on March 16. His bullet-riddled body was found abandoned in a parked car in Rome.

Law
A city ordinance in Wichita, Kansas prohibiting discrimination in housing, unemployment, and public accommodations on the basis of sexual or affectational preference was repealed in a referendum.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Semi-Finals
Montreal 2 @ Toronto 0 (Montreal won best-of-seven series 4-0)
Boston 4 @ Philadelphia 2 (Boston led best-of-seven series 3-1)

The Canadiens scored their goals early in the game as they eliminated the Maple Leafs at Maple Leaf Gardens, with Ken Dryden getting the shutout in goal.

25 years ago
1983

Diplomacy
The U.S. administration of President Ronald Reagan told the Sandanista government of Nicaragua that it would cut its sugar imports by 90%, but that economic relations could improve if Nicaragua stopped aiding leftist guerrillas in El Salvador.

20 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Australian Music Report): Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car--Billy Ocean (3rd week at #1)

War
Syria hinted for the first time that it may send in troops to halt the bloodshed in the slums of southern Beirut. At least 150 people had been killed in the fighting in the past four days. More than 400 people, many of them civilians, were being treated in hospital. The fighting between the Syrian-backed Amal militia and the pro-Iranian Hezbollah was for control of the southern suburbs, where it was believed the Western hostages, including peace envoy Terry Waite, were being held. Syria's chief of military intelligence Brigadier Ghazi Kanaan held talks with Lebanon's Prime Minister Selim al-Hoss. Afterwards, he said, "We have told the combatants 'you will force us to solve the problem if you do not agree to an end'". Asked if Syria would deploy troops in the southern suburbs in support of the Amal fighters, Brigadier Kanaan replied, "We hope it will not come to this, but I will not allow the situation to continue as it is."

Australiana
Australia's new parliament building was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in Sydney.

Politics and government
In Belgium, Premier Wilfried Martens formed his eighth government since taking office in 1981.

Baseball
The Oakland Athletics beat the Detroit Tigers 3-1 to extend their club-record winning streak to 14 games, the longest in the major leagues since 1977. Oakland led the American League West division by eight games.

Jerry Reuss of the White Sox picked up his 200th career victory with 7 1/3 shutout innings in Chicago's 3-0 win over the Baltimore Orioles.

10 years ago
1998

Died on this date
Alice Faye, 83. U.S. actress and singer. Miss Faye appeared in movie musicals in the 1930s and 1940s, including Alexander’s Ragtime Band (1938). She was married to bandleader Phil Harris for many years, and they starred in two NBC radio series together: Fitch Bandwagon (1946-1948); and The Phil Harris and Alice Faye Show (1948-1954).

Ray Noble, 79. Cuban-born U.S. baseball player. A catcher, Mr. Noble played 106 games with the New York Giants from 1951-1953, batting .218 with 9 home runs. He made two pinch hitting appearances in the 1951 World Series.

Economics and finance
Leading western industrial nations moved against Serbia, imposing an investment ban and freezing assets abroad in concern over violence in the southern Serbian province of Kosovo. Ministers called for discussions between Belgrade and the Albanian leadership.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Eastern Conference
Semi-Finals
Ottawa 1 @ Washington 6 (Washington led best-of-seven series 2-0)

Western Conference
Semi-Finals
Edmonton 2 @ Dallas 0 (Best-of-seven series tied 1-1)

Basketball
NBA
Eastern Conference
Semi-Finals
Indiana 76 @ New York 83 (Indiana led best-of-seven series 2-1)

Western Conference
Semi-Finals
Utah 64 @ San Antonio 86 (Utah led best-of-seven series 2-1)