July 21, 2008

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Garland Grayston!

440 years ago
1568

War
The forces of Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba defeated those of Louis of Nassau in the Battle of Jemmingen in what is now part of Germany.

290 years ago
1718

War
The Treaty of Passarowitz (or Treaty of Požarevac) was signed in Serbia between the Ottoman Empire on one side and the Habsburg Monarchy of Austria and the Republic of Venice on the other.

210 years ago
1798

War
Napoleon Bonaparte's forces defeated an Ottoman-Mamluk army near Cairo in the Battle of the Pyramids.

150 years ago
1858

Born on this date
Maria Christina of Austria. Queen consort of Spain, 1879-1885. Maria Christina, a daughter of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, was the second wife of King Alfonso XII of Spain, serving as queen consort until his death in 1885. She was pregnant with his first child at the time of King Alfonso's death, and the throne was vacant until it was known whether the unborn baby was male or female. Queen Maria Christina gave birth to a son, who acceded to the throne as King Alfonso XIII, with his mother acting as regent from 1885-1902, until he attained his majority. Queen Maria Christina died of heart disease on February 6, 1929 at the age of 70.

140 years ago
1868

Died on this date
William Bland, 78. U.K.-born Australian physician and politician. Dr. Bland was a surgeon on the Royal navy sloop HMS Hesper who was exiled to Van Diemen's Land after killing purser Robert Case in a duel in 1813. Dr. Bland was a pioneer in the Australian struggle for responsible government. He represented Sydney on the New South Wales Territorial Council (1843-1848, 1849-1850), and sat on the NSW Legislative Council (1858-1861). Dr. Bland died of pneumonia.

100 years ago
1908

Born on this date
Phil Handler. U.S. football player and coach. Mr. Handler was a guard with the Chicago Cardinals (1930-1936), and was an assistant and/or head coach with the Cardinals (1937-1951), compiling a head coaching record of 4-34, while helping the team win the NFL championship in 1947. He was an assistant coach with the Chicago Bears (1952-1967), helping them win the NFL championship in 1963. Mr. Handler suffered a heart attack shortly after the end of the 1967 season and was forced to reduce his activities with the Bears; he died after a second heart attack on December 8, 1968 at the age of 60.

Jug McSpaden. U.S. golfer. Harold Lee McSpaden won 28 tournaments in a professional career that began in 1927 and continued through the 1940s, but was best known for his large number of second-place finishes. He finished second to Byron Nelson in so many tournaments that the two were nicknamed the "Gold Dust Twins." Mr. McSpaden was 87 when and his wife Betty, were found dead in their home in Kansas City, Kansas on April 22, 1996. Their car was running in the garage that was attached to the house, and the deaths were ruled to be the result of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning.

80 years ago
1928

World events
In Lisbon, the Portuguese government bombarded and captured St. George Castle, where the 7th Regiment was in revolt.

Disasters
Four surveyors discovered the bodies of English trapper Jack Hornby, his young cousin Edgar Christian, and their friend Adlard in a cabin on the Thelon River in the Northwest Territories. Inside the stove was Mr. Christian's diary detailing how they slowly starved to death over the winter and spring. Mr. Hornby died April 16, 1928, after weeks of suffering; Mr. Adlard died May 4, 1928; and Mr. Christian continued his diary until his final entry June 1, 1928, noting that he was too weak to walk and could not fetch wood for the stove. He then crawled into his bunk and died.

70 years ago
1938

Died on this date
Owen Wister, 78. U.S. author. Mr. Wister was best known for his novel The Virginian (1902), which is largely regarded as the first western novel.

Linus "Skeeter" Ebnet, 23. U.S. baseball player. Mr. Ebnet (whose name has also been recorded as Ebenet), a resident of Albany, Minnesota, played second base with the East Grand Forks Colts (1933); Grand Forks Chiefs (1934-1935); Crookston Pirates (1936); and Winnipeg Maroons (1937-1938) in the Class D Northern League, batting .256 with 6 home runs in 540 games. He was batting .280 with no homers in 39 games in 1938, and was the third batter in the bottom of the 1st inning of a home game against Grand Forks on July 16. Grand Forks pitcher Vince "Dutch" Clawson retired the first two batters, and his first two pitches to Mr. Ebnet were balls. Mr. Clawson tried to throw the third pitch over the plate, but it broke inside, and Mr. Ebnet accidentally leaned into it and suffered a fractured skull. An operation two days later to relieve pressure on his brain was unsuccessful.

60 years ago
1948

Died on this date
William D'Arcy, 74. U.S. advertising executive. Mr. D'Arcy founded D'Arcy Advertising Company and was a leading innovator in American advertising.

Diplomacy
Romania and Czechoslovakia signed a two-year friendship and mutual aid treaty in Bucharest.

Politics and government
French President Vincent Auriol named Radical Socialist leader Andre Marie as Prime Minister.

Yugoslavian President Marshal Josip Broz Tito opened a Yugoslavian Communist Party congress in Belgrade with a speech attacking Cominform charges against him, but reaffirming his "agreement with the policy of Soviet Russia."

U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation Director J. Edgar Hoover announced that over two million federal employees had been screened in the loyalty investigation program.

Economics and finance
U.S.S.R. authorities in Germany offered to supply the western sectors of Berlin with food if residents registered their ration cards in the eastern sector and purchase their food with Soviet-zone currency.

Business
A U.S. federal district court in Trenton, New Jersey ordered U.S. Pipe and Foundry Company to release 50 patents and stop monopolizing the cast iron pressure pipe trade.

Labour
Colombian President Mariano Ospina Perez issued an executive decree granting workers a share in industrial and agricultural profits exceeding 12%.

50 years ago
1958

Hit parade
#1 singles in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Hard Headed Woman/Don't Ask Me Why--Elvis Presley (Best Seller--1st week at #1); Hard Headed Woman--Elvis Presley (Disc Jockey--1st week at #1); Yakety Yak--The Coasters (Top 100--1st week at #1)

Transportation
The Iranian and Soviet railway systems were linked with the opening of a junction at Julfa on the Soviet-Iranian frontier.

Disasters
47 passengers drowned as a boat capsized in a gale in Kerala State, India.

Football
CFL
WIFU
Pre-season
Edmonton Eskimos intrasquad game
Gold 27 Green 0

Johnny Bright rushed 17 times for 126 yards and a touchdown, while Joe-Bob Smith, Mike Lashuk, and Bob LaRue also scored TDs for Gold as they routed Green before 5,000 fans at Clarke Stadium, most of whom left before the end because of intermittent bouts of heavy rain. Tommy Pearson was successful on 3 of 4 convert attempts.

The Eskimos signed free agent halfback Fob James, who had played for the Montreal Alouettes in 1956 before entering the United States Army and missing the entire 1957 season.

40 years ago
1968

Golf
Julius Boros, 48, became the oldest golfer to win a major tournament when won the PGA Championship at Pecan Valley Golf Club in San Antonio with a 1-over-par total score of 281, 1 stroke ahead of Bob Charles and Arnold Palmer. First prize money was $25,000.

Football
CFL
Pre-season
Montreal (1-3) 6 @ Edmonton (3-1) 17

Larry Plancke caught 2 touchdown passes for the Eskimos and Peter Kempf added 2 converts and a field goal as they defeated the Alouettes at Clarke Stadium.

30 years ago
1978

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Rivers of Babylon--Boney M. (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Rivers of Babylon--Boney M. (14th week at #1)

#1 single in France (IFOP): En chantant--Michel Sardou

At the movies
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, starring Peter Frampton, the Bee Gees, and many others, opened in theatres.

Music
Frankie Valli, with the Edmonton band Tacoy Ryde as the opening act, performed at the Edmonton Coliseum, before only about 800 fans, leaving 15,000 empty seats.

World events
General Juan Pereda Asbun seized power in Bolivia, two days after a court had annulled his July 9 victory in the country's presidential election on charges of electoral fraud. Current President Hugo Banzer Suarez had planned to turn over power on August 6 to an elected President, ending 12 years of military rule.

Britannica
The United Kingdom announced that the Caribbean island of Dominica would be granted independence.

Labour
The U.S. Postal Service and postal unions agreed on a three-year contract averting the possibility of a strike. The new contract provided a 19.5% wage increase and preserved the no-layoff clause of the old contract.

A week-long strike of 19,000 city workers in Philadelphia ended.

Baseball
The Montreal Expos sold infielder Wayne Garrett to the St. Louis Cardinals. Mr. Garrett, in his 10th major league season and third with the Expos, was batting .174 with 1 home run and 2 runs batted in in 49 games with Montreal in 1978.

Reggie Smith tripled in a run and scored in the 1st inning and hit a 3-run home run in the 7th inning that provided the winning margin as the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 7-5 before 51,911 fans, including this blogger and his parents, at Dodger Stadium. The Cardinals scored 2 runs in the 9th and had runners on first and second bases with 2 out, but Ted Simmons grounded into a force play to end the game. Ken Oberkfell, in his first game in a St. Louis uniform, batted 2 for 3 with a double and 2 runs.

Dick Ruthven and Larry Christenson were the respective winning pitchers as the Philadelphia Phillies swept a doubleheader from the Houston Astros 6-1 and 8-2 before 35,389 fans at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Oscar Zamora pitched a scoreless inning of relief for the Astros in the first game and allowed 2 hits and 1 run--earned--in 1/3 inning in the second game in the last 2 games of his 158-game, 4-year major league career.

The Cincinnati Reds scored 6 runs in the 6th inning as they beat the Montreal Expos 10-3 before 25,825 fans at Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Mike LaCoss, in his second major league game, allowed 7 hits and 3 earned runs in 8+ innings to get his first major league win, and singled in a run and scored in the 6th.



The New York Mets scored 5 runs in the 7th inning and 3 in the 8th as they beat the Atlanta Braves 12-3 before 10,636 fans at Shea Stadium in New York.

Jim Bibby pitched a 6-hitter to win the pitchers' duel over Bob Knepper as the Pittsburgh Pirates shut out the San Francisco Giants 3-0 before 23,882 fans at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

Mike Paxton pitched a 2-hitter and Rick Manning and Johnny Grubb each drove in 3 runs as the Cleveland Indians routed the Seattle Mariners 11-0 before 13,908 fans at Cleveland Stadium. Cleveland outfielder Jim Norris batted 4 for 5 with a triple and a run.

Lyman Bostock singled home Carney Lansford and scored on a single by Brian Downing in the top of the 11th inning to break a 2-2 tie as the California Angels beat the Detroit Tigers 4-2 in the first game of a doubleheader before 33,699 fans at Tiger Stadium. Kip Young pitched the last 2 innings for Detroit and allowed 3 hits and 2 earned runs, with 1 base on balls and 1 strikeout, taking the loss in his first major league game. Jack Billingham pitched a 7-hitter and Rusty Staub hit a single, double, and home run as the Tigers won the second game 5-0.



Paul Splittorff pitched a 6-hitter and Clint Hurdle batted 3 for 3 with a home run, sacrifice fly, 2 runs, and 6 runs batted in as the Kansas City Royals routed the Boston Red Sox 9-0 before 39,841 fans at Royals Stadium.

25 years ago
1983

Hit parade
Canada's Top 30 (Weekly Music Magazine)
1 Every Breath You Take--The Police
2 Come Dancing--The Kinks
3 Baby Jane--Rod Stewart
4 Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)--Eurythmics
5 Hot Girls in Love--Loverboy
6 Never Gonna Let You Go--Sergio Mendes
7 I'm Still Standing--Elton John
8 1999--Prince
9 Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'--Michael Jackson
10 Stand Back--Stevie Nicks
11 Is There Something I Should Know--Duran Duran
12 Total Eclipse of the Heart--Bonnie Tyler
13 China Girl--David Bowie
14 Our House--Madness
15 Wishing--A Flock of Seagulls
16 Flashdance...What a Feeling--Irene Cara
17 Maniac--Michael Sembello
18 Electric Avenue--Eddy Grant
19 Change--Tears for Fears
20 Heartache Avenue--The Maisonettes
21 Moonlight Shadow--Mike Oldfield
22 Best Years of Our Lives--Mens Room
23 It's a Mistake--Men at Work
24 Rock & Roll is King--Electric Light Orchestra
25 Human Touch--Rick Springfield
26 The Haunting--The Front
27 Stop in the Name of Love--The Hollies
28 She Works Hard for the Money--Donna Summer
29 Video Kids--Prototype
30 All This Love--DeBarge

Best Years of Our Lives was the B-side of the recent hit Sign of the Times.

Weather
The world's lowest temperature was recorded at Vostok Station, Antarctica at −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F).

World events
The Communist regime in Poland announced that martial law, in place since December 13, 1981, would be lifted formally at midnight on July 22. The government maintained control over the people by establishing a number of new temporary restrictions. Under a partial amnesty, female prisoners, those under 21, and persons serving short terms were eligible for release. Solidarity trade union movement leader Lech Walesa and U.S. President Ronald Reagan expressed skepticism over the announcement.

Defense
U.S. President Ronald Reagan, addressing a news conference, sought to give assurances that U.S.-Honduran maneuvers near the Nicaraguan border scheduled to begin in Sugust were routine, though they would surpass in scale any previous training exercises in the vicinity. Panama and Venezuela criticized the maneuvers as counterproductive and ill-timed.

The United States House of Representatives approved an amendment to a defense authorization bill cutting production funds for the MX missile from $2.6 billion to $2.2 billion.

Economics and finance
The United States Commerce Department reported that the real gross national product had risen at an annual rate of 8.7% during the second quarter of 1983, compared with a revised rate of 2.6% for the first quarter. The higher rate was about the same as in average recoveries since World War II.

Football
CFL
Calgary (1-1) 27 @ Ottawa (1-2) 16



20 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Gimme Hope Jo'anna--Eddy Grant (7th week at #1)

#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Yé ké yé ké--Mory Kanté

Law
In Ottawa, the New Emergencies Act received royal assent, and the War Measures Act of 1914 was set aside. The Canadian Multiculturalism Act, to "promote the full and equitable participation of individuals and communities of all origins in the continuing evolution and shaping of all aspects of Canadian society,” was passed, and two other bills designed to weed out bogus refugee claimants also received royal assent.

Politics and government
At the Democratic National Convention at the Omni in Atlanta, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis formally accepted his party's nomination for President of the United States of America in the November election, saying his campaign was not about ideology but about competence. His themes included the importance of the family and traditional values, and of honesty in government.

Football
CFL
Hamilton (1-1) 9 @ Winnipeg (1-1) 21

10 years ago
1998

Died on this date
Robert Young, 91. U.S. actor. Mr. Young had a lengthy career in film and television, but was best known as star of the radio (1949-1954) and television (1954-1960) series Father Knows Best and the television series Marcus Welby, M.D. (1969-1976). He won Emmy Awards in 1957, 1958, and 1960.

Alan Shepard, 74. U.S. astronaut. Rear Admiral Shepard was a United States Navy officer before becoming one of the original seven men selected for the U.S. manned space program in 1959. He became the first American in space with the suborbital Mercury-Redstone 3 mission in his spacecraft, nicknamed "Friendship 7," on May 5, 1961. Mr. Shepard came down with Ménière's disease--an inner ear condition--in 1963, and was grounded until an operation in 1969 proved successful, serving during this period as Chief of the Astronaut Office. Mr. Shepard commanded the Apollo 14 mission in 1971, and became the fifth man to walk on the Moon, and the only man to hit a golf shot there. Rear Admiral Shepard retired from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the United States Navy on July 31, 1974. He died after a two-year battle with leukemia, and his wife Louise died of a heart attack just five weeks later.