May 22, 2009

150 years ago
1859

Born on this date
Arthur Conan Doyle. U.K. author, physician, sportsman. The creator of Sherlock Holmes was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. An excellent tribute site is The Chronicles of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Several Sherlock Holmes sites can be found here, here, and here. For a recent biography, try The Man Who Created Sherlock Holmes by Andrew Lycett, published in 2007.

130 years ago
1879

Baseball
The Providence Grays, behind 9-2 in the 7th inning, rallied to beat the Cincinnati Reds 10-9 in 10 innings.

125 years ago
1884

Baseball
New York Metropolitans' first baseman Dave Orr hit the first home run at Metropolitan Park, over the left field fence and into the Harlem River. The Metropolitans, an American Association club, were dissatisfied with sharing the Polo Grounds with the Maroons of the National League, and moved into their own park, which was built on top of a city dump on the east coast of Manhattan Island.

75 years ago
1934

Baseball
The Cleveland Indians defeated the New York Yankees 5-1. The Yankees' lone run was driven in by Lou Gehrig, extending his RBI streak to 10 games.

70 years ago
1939

Canadiana
The Royal standard waved over the Peace Tower in Ottawa for the first time during King George VI's visit to Canada. King George and Queen Elizabeth then left Ottawa to visit Toronto; it was their first visit to the city.

60 years ago
1949

On the radio
Pat Novak For Hire, starring Jack Webb, on ABC
Tonight's episode: Give Envelope to John St. John

Baseball
The Brooklyn Dodgers and Cincinnati Reds split a doubleheader at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Don Newcombe, making his first major league start, gave up hits to the first two batters, then just 3 more hits in blanking the Reds 3-0 in the opener, while also driving in 2 runs. Ken Raffensberger returned the favour in the second game, holding the Dodgers to just 1 hit--a single by Gil Hodges in the 8th inning--as the Reds won 2-0.

50 years ago
1959

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): (Now and Then There's) A Fool Such As I/I Need Your Love Tonight--Elvis Presley (2nd week at #1)

Boxing
Alex Miteff (18-3-1) won a 10-round decision over Wayne Bethea (19-10-2) in a heavyweight bout at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Baseball
Hoyt Wilhelm gave up just an 8th-inning single to Jerry Lumpe as the Baltimore Orioles shut out the New York Yankees 5-0.

40 years ago
1969

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)?--Peter Sarstedt

At the movies
Winning, directed by James Goldstone, and starring Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Robert Wagner, and Richard Thomas, opened in theatres.

Space
Apollo 10 Commander Tom Stafford and Lunar Module Pilot Gene Cernan took the lunar module Snoopy to within 9 miles of the Moon's surface, and reported that the site for the scheduled landing of Apollo 11 in July in the Sea of Tranquility looked suitable. According to Mr. Cernan, it looked "like wet clay, with lots of holes." Perhaps the most memorable image was the photo taken from the command module Charlie Brown of Snoopy with the lunar surface behind; it appeared on the cover of the June 6 issue of Life.





War
Two Biafran aircraft, smuggled from Sweden by Count Carl Gustaf von Rosen, bombed Port Harcourt, Nigeria, reportedly destroying several Nigerian fighter planes.

Diplomacy
A Canadian government spokesman announced a new policy of allowing United States army deserters into Canada and permitting them to stay, if they were eligible for immigrant status. Previously, some deserters--but no draft dodgers--were turned back at the border.

Protest
The military took control of Rosario, Argentina’s second largest city, to displace thousands of students who had routed local police and taken over 50 blocks. The students were protesting what they called indiscriminate shooting by police that led to the deaths of three young men.

A petition to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights asking for an investigation of the "repression of basic civil rights" in the Soviet Union was made available in Moscow by members of a group of more than 50 dissidents who signed it.

Disasters
114 people had died in Burma after a six-day heat wave.

30 years ago
1979

Protest
14 men, women, and children demonstrating outside the Venezuelan embassy in San Salvador were shot to death by Salvadoran government troops.

Politics and government
The Canadian federal election produced a plurality in favour of the Progressive Conservatives, ending 16 consecutive years of Liberal rule. The PCs, led by Joe Clark, won 136 of the 282 seats in the House of Commons. The Liberals under Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau won 114 seats, a loss of 19. The New Democratic Party, led by Ed Broadbent, won 26 seats, while Social Credit, under Fabien Roy, won 6 seats, all in Quebec. The election reflected divisions in the country (and the weaknesses of the Canadian federalist system), as the PCs won just 2 seats in Quebec, while the Liberals won 67 seats in Quebec, and just 2 seats west of Ontario. The PCs swept Alberta for the third straight election. Jack Horner, who had jumped to the Liberals in 1977 after failing in his bid for the PC leadership in 1976, lost his Crowfoot seat to Arnold Malone (and was more than a little angry about it when interviewed on election night). Much of the campaign had consisted of an emphasis on strong leadership, giving the impression that Canada was electing a dictator instead of a Prime Minister.

Diplomacy
U.K. Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington said that Britain's new Conservative government would be sending a senior diplomat to Salisbury to maintain contact with the new Rhodesian government of Prime Minister Abel Muzorewa.

Defense
The United States Senate backed the administration of President Jimmy Carter in voting a $50 million arms grant to Turkey after a four-year ban on military aid to that country because of its 1974 invasion of Cyprus.

Crime
James B. Lawson, 28, surrendered to authorities in Portland, Oregon, ending a five-hour drama in a hotel that began with him attempting to rob the reservation office and escalated to Mr. Lawson making hostages of the six women working in the office. Mr. Lawson released four of the hostages before surrendering; he was charged with robbery.

Environment
U.S. Steel Corporation agreed to spend $400 million over the next 3 ½ years to clean up air and water pollution by some of its plants. The agreement would bring nine of the company’s plants in western Pennsylvania into compliance with the anti-pollution laws and would cover 25% of the company’s nationwide steel-making capacity. U.S. Steel chairman David Roderick estimated that the cost of the agreement could add between $13-$15 per ton to the price of steel produced at the affected sites. The agreement was heralded by Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Douglas Costel as "the largest environmental agreement in the history of the steel industry."

25 years ago
1984

Edmontonia
The city honoured the Edmonton Oilers with their first Stanley Cup parade downtown.

Diplomacy
Jose Napoleon Duarte, the newly-elected president of El Salvador, completed a three-day visit to the United States, which was mainly for the purpose of appealing for more military aid. He promised an end to death squad activity, but said that he would not accept aid tied to improvement in human rights, saying that such conditions would be "degrading." At a news conference, U.S. President Ronald Reagan said that he was not considering sending American troops to Central America.

Economics and finance
The United States Labor Department reported that the consumer price index had risen 0.5% in April.

20 years ago
1989

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Australian Music Report): Like a Prayer--Madonna (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Ibiza--Amnesia

Canada's top 10 (RPM):
1 Like a Prayer--Madonna (3rd week at #1)
2 I'll Be There for You--Bon Jovi
3 Forever Your Girl--Paula Abdul
4 Second Chance--Thirty Eight Special
5 Heaven Help Me--Deon Estus (with George Michael)
6 Real Love--Jody Watley
7 The Look--Roxette
8 After All--Cher and Peter Cetera
9 Diamond Mine--Blue Rodeo
10 Rock On--Michael Damian

Singles entering the chart were Baby Don't Forget My Number by Milli Vanilli (#70); Unborn Heart by Dan Hill (#73); Talk it Over by Grayson Hugh (#82); Hey Baby by Henry Lee Summer (#85); My Brave Face by Paul McCartney (#88); This Feeling by Sam Brown (#91); I'll Be Lovin' You (Forever) by New Kids on the Block (#94); Promises by Basia (#96); Lola by Toyo (#98); and Cuddly Toy (Feel for Me) by Roachford (#99).

Baseball
The Minnesota Twins scored 4 runs in the 3rd inning as they defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 6-2 before 40,134 fans at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. Allan Anderson pitched a 5-hit complete game to win the matchup with Dave Stieb.

The Cleveland Indians scored 4 runs in the 2nd inning and 3 in the 3rd as they coasted to a 7-3 win over the Detroit Tigers before 13,702 fans at Tiger Stadium.

10 years ago
1999

Soccer
English FA Cup Final @ Wembley Stadium, London
Manchester United 2 Newcastle United 0

Teddy Sheringham scored in the 11th minute and Paul Scholes scored in the 53rd minute to give Manchester United their win before 79,101 fans.



Baseball
Steve Sparks tied a major league record by hitting 4 batters with pitches, including 3 in a row with the bases loaded in the 3rd inning, but came out the winner as the Anaheim Angels defeated the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 8-6. Mr. Sparks gave up just 5 hits, but walked 6.

The New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox split a doubleheader. Roger Clemens set an American League record with his 18th straight win over 2 seasons as the Yankees won the first game 10-2. The White Sox won the second game 2-1.

The Cincinnati Reds blanked the San Diego Padres 3-0 as Pete Harnisch pitched his second shutout of the season and hit his first major league home run.