May 31, 2008

80 years ago
1928

Died on this date
Grant Briggs, 63. U.S. baseball player. Mr. Briggs, a catcher, played in 110 major league games for four teams from 1890-1895. His lifetime batting percentage was a pathetic .164.

Aviation
The monoplane Southern Cross left Golden Gate (Oakland) for Hawaii at 8:51 A.M. Pacific time, commanded by Capt. Charles Kingsford-Smith of Australia. Also aboard were Capt. C. T. P. Ulm of Australia, and two Americans: Lt. Harry Lyon, navigator, and James Warner, radio operator.

Politics and government
U.S. Senator J. T. Heflin of Alabama was a witness before the Senate Campaign Fund Committee, but had no firsthand data as to expenditures on behalf of Democratic presidential candidate Al Smith of New York.

Journalism
The Chicago Journal, founded in 1844, was bought by S. E. Thomason and J. S. Bryan.

Crime
E. M. Fuller and M. F. McGee, convicted stock bucketeers, were paroled from Sing Sing Prison after both serving a year.

75 years ago
1933

On the radio
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring Richard Gordon and Leigh Lovell, on NBC
Tonight's episode: The Corpse in the Cab

70 years ago
1938

Baseball
At Yankee Stadium, Jimmie Foxx hit a grand slam off New York pitcher Joe Beggs‚ the first of three he hit off Mr. Beggs that season‚ but the Yankees prevailed 12-5. Lou Gehrig played his 2‚000th consecutive game and had an RBI single.

60 years ago
1948

Auto racing
Results of the Indianapolis 500:
Finish Start No Name Qual Rank Laps Led Status
1 3 3 Mauri Rose 129.129 4 200 81 Running
2 2 2 Bill Holland 129.515 3 200 0 Running
3 11 54 Duke Nalon 131.603 1 200 9 Running
4 5 1 Ted Horn 126.565 9 200 74 Running
5 21 35 Mack Hellings 127.968 6 200 0 Running
6 14 63 Hal Cole 124.391 18 200 0 Running
7 28 91 Lee Wallard 128.420 5 200 0 Running
8 27 33 Johnny Mauro 121.790 33 198 0 Flagged
9 23 7 Tommy Hinnershitz 125.122 14 198 0 Flagged
10 4 61 Jimmy Jackson 127.510 7 193 0 Spindle
11 12 4 Charles Van Acker 125.440 13 192 0 Flagged
12 20 19 Billy Devore 123.967 21 190 0 Flagged
13 8 98 Johnny Mantz 122.791 27 185 0 Flagged
14 22 6 Tony Bettenhausen 126.396 10 167 0 Clutch
15 18 64 Hal Robson 122.796 26 164 0 Valve
16 7 36 Bill Cantrell 123.733 22 161 0 Steering
17 10 55 Joie Chitwood 124.619 15 138 0 Fuel leak
18 24 53 Bill Sheffler 124.529 17 132 0 Spark plugs
19 1 5 Rex Mays 130.577 2 129 36 Fuel leak
20 19 31 Chet Miller 127.249 8 108 0 Oil trouble
21 13 52 Jack McGrath 124.580 16 70 0 Stalled
22 29 16 Duane Carter 126.015 11 59 0 Lost wheel
23 32 26 Fred Agabashian 122.737 28 58 0 Oil line
24 9 34 Les Anderson 122.337 30 58 0 Gears
25 33 17 Mel Hansen 122.117 32 42 0 Too slow
26 15 76 Sam Hanks 124.266 19 34 0 Clutch
27 30 51 Spider Webb 125.545 12 27 0 Oil line
28 17 9 George Connor 123.018 25 24 0 Drive shaft
29 6 74 Doc Williams 124.151 20 19 0 Clutch
30 31 86 Mike Salay 123.393 24 3 0 Stalled
31 16 8 Emil Andres 123.550 23 11 0 Steering
32 25 25 Paul Russo 122.595 29 7 0 Oil leak
33 26 65 Harry McQuinn 122.154 31 1 0 Supercharger

Baseball
At Wrigley Field‚ the Cubs set a paid attendance record when 46‚965 passed through the turnstiles for a doubleheader with the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Cubs took the opener 4-3 behind relief pitcher Bob Rush‚ then dropped the nightcap 4-2 to Elmer Riddle. Andy Pafko was the hitting star‚ pounding out five hits‚ including a home run in each game.

In Cincinnati‚ the Reds swept a Memorial Day doubleheader from the St. Louis Cardinals 4-3 and 7-0 at Crosley Field. In the nightcap‚ Ken Raffensberger tossed a one-hitter‚ allowing just an 8th inning single by Nippy Jones. Hank Sauer's home run in the opener broke a tie. The Reds’ scoring in the nightcap was paced by homers from Augie Galan and Ted Kluszewski. The twin loss dropped the Cardinals to second place as the New York Giants split a pair with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

The Washington Nationals‚ fresh from four wins over the Boston Red Sox‚ dropped a pair to the host New York Yankees before 62‚626 at Yankee Stadium. Spec Shea allowed just two hits in coasting in the opener‚ 10-0. The Yankees collected 16 hits‚ including home runs by Tommy Henrich and George McQuinn. The Yankees take the nightcap 5-4‚ as Red Embree made a rare start. Bobby Brown made 7 straight hits in the two games‚ making outs in his first and last at bats.

The Cleveland Indians drubbed the St. Louis Browns 8-3‚ then lost 6-0‚ to stay in second place behind the Philadelphia Athletics. In the opener‚ Lou Boudreau hit a grand slam and Jim Hegan homered in the 5-run 6th inning. Gene Bearden was the winning pitcher. In the nightcap‚ Cliff Fannin allowed just 4 hits in geting the win for the Browns.

The last place Chicago White Sox and fourth-place Detroit Tigers split a pair at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. The Tigers took the opener 5-4‚ with Dizzy Trout the winner over Orval Grove. The White Sox won the nightcap 9-3‚ with veteran Ike Pearson picking up the win. Mr. Pearson went on to finish the year at 2-3 to close out his career at 13-50; his .206 winning percentage is the worst in ML history for a pitcher with 50 losses.

A lefthander for Schenectady (Canadian-American League) named Tom Lasorda struck out 25 in a 15-inning game against Amsterdam.

50 years ago
1958

Baseball
Hank Aaron‚ Eddie Mathews‚ and Wes Covington of the Milwaukee Braves hit home runs in succession off Ron Kline of the Pittsburgh Pirates in an 8-3 win. The same trio hit successive home runs on June 26th of the previous year. Warren Spahn coasted to his 8th win of the season.

40 years ago
1968

Hit parade
Edmonton’s top 10
1 Master Jack--Four Jacks and a Jill
2 Mrs. Robinson--Simon and Garfunkel
3 Delilah--Tom Jones
4 I Wanna Live--Glen Campbell
5 A Beautiful Morning--The Rascals
6 Honey--Bobby Goldsboro
7 Mony, Mony--Tommy James and the Shondells
8 Me, the Peaceful Heart--Lulu
9 I Love You--People
10 Blue Bonnie Blue--The 49th Parallel
Pick hit of the week: Stoned Soul Picnic--The Fifth Dimension
New this week: Step Inside Love--Cilla Black
Here’s to You--Hamilton Camp
Reach Out of the Darkness--Friend and Lover
We Played Games--John Fred and his Playboy Band
People Get Ready--Group Therapy

Step Inside Love was one of the Lennon-McCartney compositions (probably written solely by Paul McCartney) that was given to another artist to record.

At the movies
Hang 'em High, directed by Ted Post and starring Clint Eastwood, Inger Stevens, and Ed Begley, opened in theatres in Japan.



War
U.S. Ambassador-at-Large Averell Harriman suggested that the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) be restored as a truly neutral buffer zone. North Vietnam rejected the idea.

Medicine
Pierre Grondin led a 27-member surgical team at the Montréal Heart Institute in performing Canada's first, and the world's 18th, heart transplant, on Albert Murphy, a 58-year-old retired butcher from Chomedy, Québec, who died 46 hours after start of operation.

Baseball
Los Angeles Dodgers' ace Don Drysdale's shutout streak apparently ended when Dick Dietz of the San Francisco Giants was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and none out in the 9th inning‚ but umpire Harry Wendelstedt ruled that Mr. Dietz did not try to avoid the pitch. Giants’ manager Herman Franks argued the call so long he that he was ejected by Mr. Wendelstedt. Mr. Dietz then popped out‚ and the next two batters were retired. Los Angeles won 3-0 before 46,067 fans at Dodger Stadium‚ and Mr. Drysdale's fifth straight shutout tied the major league record set in 1904 by Doc White of the Chicago White Sox.

St. Louis Cardinals’ pitcher Larry Jaster retired the first 23 New York Mets before Greg Goosen singled. Mr. Jaster settled for a 2-hitter‚ beating Tom Seaver 2-0 before 41,075 fans at Shea Stadium in New York.

Willie Horton led off the bottom of the 7th inning with a home run to provide the only scoring as the Detroit Tigers edged the New York Yankees 1-0 before 31,155 fans at Tiger Stadium. Mickey Lolich (3-2) pitched a 4-hitter to win the pitchers' duel over Mel Stottlemyre, who also allowed 4 hits.



Luis Aparicio singled home Dick Kenworthy with 1 out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the 14th inning to give the Chicago White Sox a 2-1 win over the Minnesota Twins before 9,667 fans at White Sox Park.

Buck Rodgers hit a 3-run home run with 2 out in the top of the 12th inning to break a 0-0 tie as the California Angels shut out the Oakland Athletics 3-0 before 6,415 fans at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Losing pitcher Chuck Dobson pitched a complete game, allowing just 4 hits--2 in the 12th--and striking out 13 batters while walking 4.

30 years ago
1978

Law
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-3 that police could obtain warrants to search the property of newspapers without prior warning, and that the papers had no right to contest such searches in court before they were conducted. The decision was condemned by reporters as an attack on First Amendment freedom of the press.

Diplomacy
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) leaders cautioned the U.S.S.R. that Soviet actions in the Zairian province of Shaba endangered detente. The Soviet Union said that the western rescue of Europeans in Shaba was a pretext for intervention in the internal affairs of African countries and was harmful to detente.

The Shah of Iran warned that pro-Soviet Communists would take over if his government were ever to fall.

Politics and government
The United States House of Representatives voted 321-46 to adopt a resolution that aid to South Korea would be cut off unless the Koreans cooperated fully with the House investigation into Korean influence-buying in the U.S. Congress. South Korea responded that a House demand that former Ambassador to the United States Kim Dong Jo testify before the ethics committee was "unacceptable."

25 years ago
1983

Died on this date
Jack Dempsey, 87. U.S. boxer. Mr. Dempsey, "The Manassa Mauler," was one of the people who made the 1920s the so-called "Golden Age of Sport." He won the world heavyweight title with a devastating 3-round knockout of Jess Willard on July 4, 1919. A string of successful defenses followed through 1923. Mr. Dempsey’s 4-round knockout of light heavyweight champion Georges Carpentier at Boyle’s City Acres in Jersey City, New Jersey on July 2, 1921 was the first major sports event ever broadcast on radio, and provided boxing with its first $1 million gate. 80,000 people were in attendance, producing gate receipts of almost $1.8 million. In contrast, Mr. Dempsey’s 15-round decision over Tom Gibbons on July 4, 1923 nearly bankrupted the host town of Shelby, Montana. On September 14, 1923, 82,000 came to the Polo Grounds in New York to see Mr. Dempsey fight Argentinian Luis Angel Firpo, "The Wild Bull of the Pampas." In a wild first round, Mr. Dempsey was knocked out of the ring, but was (illegally) helped into the ring by writers at ringside. Mr. Dempsey knocked out Mr. Firpo in round 2. This fight produced another $1 million gate. Mr. Dempsey was inactive in the ring from 1923-1926. A major black challenger, Harry Wills, was unsuccessful in attempts to arrange a title bout. Finally, on September 23, 1926, 120,757 spectators filled Sesquicentennial Stadium in Philadelphia to see challenger Gene Tunney outpoint Mr. Dempsey over 10 rounds to win the belt. The gate was almost $1.9 million, just beating the 1921 record. Another $1 million gate resulted from Mr. Dempsey’s fight against Jack Sharkey at Yankee Stadium in New York on July 21, 1927. In the 7th round, Mr. Dempsey landed a low blow; when Mr. Sharkey turned to the referee to complain, Mr. Dempsey knocked him out. A rematch with Mr. Tunney took place at Soldier Field in Chicago on September 22, 1927. 104, 943 spectators produced a gate of more than $2.6 million, a record that stood for decades. In the 7th round, Mr. Dempsey knocked Mr. Tunney down. According to a rule just recently adopted, Mr. Dempsey was required to go to a neutral corner during the count. Mr. Dempsey remained in the middle of the ring, and the referee refused to begin his count until Mr. Dempsey went to a neutral corner. Mr. Tunney rose at the count of 9, although he had been on the floor for as long as 14 seconds, by some estimates. "The Battle of the Long Count" concluded with Mr. Tunney retaining his title with another 10-round decision. Jack Dempsey retired from boxing soon after, but remained in the public eye as a successful restaurateur in New York for several decades.

Disasters
Hundreds of people were evacuated from Bountiful and Farmington, Utah, where many homes had been destroyed by mud slides. In Salt Lake City, sandbags were used to turn streets into canals to facilitate removal of the water.

Basketball
NBA Finals
Los Angeles 108 @ Philadelphia 115 (Philadelphia won best-of-seven series 4-0)

At the Spectrum, the 76ers defeated the Lakers to complete a four-game sweep of the finals to win the National Basketball championship for the first time since 1967. Moses Malone of the 76ers was named the Most Valuable Player in the playoffs. It was the third NBA championship for the 76ers; their first title came in 1955, when they were the Syracuse Nationals.

20 years ago
1988

Diplomacy
U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev continued their summit in Moscow. After their morning meeting, the two men strolled through Red Square, and President Reagan lunched with Soviet cultural leaders and intellectuals. He then addressed the students of Moscow State University, calling on them to have faith that changes afoot in the Soviet Union would bring benefits to their society.

Law
The Canadian House of Commons passed bills to phase out tobacco advertising, restrict smoking in workplaces under federal jurisdiction, and ensure smoke-free areas in passenger planes, trains, buses, and ships.

Baseball
Jeff Pico threws a 4-hit, 4-0 shutout against the Cincinnati Reds to win his major league debut with the Chicago Cubs. He was the first Cubs’ pitcher to debut with a shutout since Bill Lee in 1934.

New York Yankees’ starting pitcher Al Leiter made one pitch before leaving the game. Oakland Athletics’ leadoff hitter Carney Lansford hit the first pitch off Mr. Leiter for a hit‚ and Mr. Leiter was replaced by reliever Neil Allen. Mr. Allen gave up just 3 hits in 9 innings to record a 5-0 shutout for New York. Mike Pagliarulo hit a 2-run home run off Steve Ontiveros to supply Mr. Allen with all the runs he needed.

10 years ago
1998

Basketball
NBA
Eastern Conference Finals

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Western Conference Finals
Dallas 2 @ Detroit 3 (Detroit led best-of-seven series 3-1)

Baseball
In an International League game at Toledo, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Barons downed the Mud Hens 26-4. The Barons collected 7 home runs and 27 hits‚ led by designated hitter Bobby Estalella, who went 5-for-6 with 2 doubles and a home run.