July 24, 2009

320 years ago
1689

Born on this date
William, Duke of Gloucester. English royal family member. Prince William was the son of the future Queen Anne and her husband Prince George of Denmark, and was their only child to survive infancy. He was regarded as a Protestant champion, cementing the Protestant succession established in the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688. Prince William suffered from hydrocephalus and died, probably from acute bacterial pharyngitis, with associated pneumonia, on July 30, 1700, six days after his 11th birthday. His death destabilized the succession, resulting in the Act of Settlement 1701.

250 years ago
1759

Born on this date
Victor Emmanuel I. King of Sardinia, 1802-1821. Victor Emmanuel I, a son of King Victor Amadeus III, acceded to the throne upon the abdication of his elder brother Charles Emmanuel IV. He wasn't willing to give in to the wishes of liberal revolutionaries in 1821, and abdicated in favour of his younger brother Charles Felix. King Victor Emmanuel died on January 10, 1824 at the age of 64.

140 years ago
1869

Baseball
The Cincinnati Red Stockings hosted a match at the Union Grounds against the Rockford Forest Citys‚ with Harry Wright pitching against Al Spalding. Cincinnati scored 3 runs in the 9th to pull out a 15-14 victory.

120 years ago
1889

Baseball
Joe Dowie of the Baltimore Orioles batted 5-for-6 in a 17-3 rout of the Louisville Colonels at Union Park in Baltimore. Mr. Dowie ended up with only 17 hits in his 20-game major league career. Louisville center fielder Harry Scherer batted 1 for 3, with 2 putouts and 2 errors, in his only major league game.

110 years ago
1899

Born on this date
Dan George. Canadian actor. Chief George, born Geswanouth Slahoot in North Vancouver, was a chief of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation--then called the Burrard Indian Band--in British Columbia from 1951-1963. He appeared in various television programs and movies, and was nominated for an Academy Award for his supporting performance in Little Big Man (1970). His other movies included Harry and Tonto (1974) and The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976). Chief George wrote My Heart Soars (1974) and My Spirit Soars (1983), two well-received books of non-fiction. He died in Vancouver on September 23, 1981 at the age of 82.

Economics and finance
The Merchants Bank of Halifax opened a branch in New York City.

110 years ago
1909

Born on this date
John William Finn. U.S. sailor. Chief Petty Officer Finn was awarded the Medal of Honor for manning a machine gun while serving as a chief aviation ordnanceman stationed at Naval Air Station Kaneohe Bay during the Japanese attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941. He fired at invading Japanese planes for two hours, despite receiving 21 wounds, and was awarded the first Medal of Honor during World War II on September 14, 1942. Mr. Finn eventually rose to the rank of lieutenant before retiring from the Navy in 1956. He died on May 27, 2010 at the age of 100.

Baseball
George Bell pitched a 4-hitter to win the pitchers' duel over Bob Harmon, who allowed just 3 hits, as the Brooklyn Superbas edged the St. Louis Cardinals 1-0 in the first game of a doubleheader at Washington Park in Brooklyn. Nap Rucker pitched a 2-hitter and struck out 16 batters to win the pitchers' duel over Les Backman, who allowed just 4 hits, as the Dodgers won the second game 1-0 to complete the sweep.

90 years ago
1919

Died on this date
Ed Bagley, 55. U.S. baseball pitcher. Mr. Bagley played with the New York Gothams (1884) and New York Metropolitans (1885), compiling a record of 16-27 with an earned run average of 4.39 in 46 games.

Baseball
Babe Ruth’s 2-run home run off Bob Shawkey in the bottom of the 8th inning enabled the Boston Red Sox to defeat the New York Yankees 4-3 before 3,500 fans at Fenway Park in Boston. It was the 15th home run of the season for the Babe, who had previously been intentionally walked twice in the game by Mr. Shawkey, both times with a runner on base. Herb Pennock pitched an 8-hit complete game victory.

Walter Johnson pitched a 6-hitter to win the pitchers' duel over Walt Kinney as the Washington Nationals edged the Philadelphia Athletics 1-0 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. The only run came in the bottom of the 1st inning when Joe Judge led off with a double and scored on a sacrifice fly by Sam Rice.

Happy Felsch singled home Nemo Leibold with 2 out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the Chicago White Sox a 1-0 win over the St. Louis Browns at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Eddie Cicotte pitched an 8-hitter, walking no batters, to improve his 1919 record to 19-4, winning the pitchers' duel over Allan Sothoron, who also pitched an 8-hitter.

Hal Chase batted 3 for 4 with a home run and 4 runs batted in to help the New York Giants edge the Boston Braves 7-6 before 6,000 fans at the Polo Grounds in New York.

Dave Bancroft singled with 2 out and nobody on base in the bottom of the 11th inning and Lena Blackburne followed with a run-scoring triple to give the Philadelphia Phillies a 7-6 win over the Brooklyn Robins before 3,000 fans at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia.

80 years ago
1929

Died on this date
George Miller, 76. U.S. baseball player. Mr. Miller was a catcher with the Cincinnati Reds (1877) and Cincinnati Red Stockings (1884), batting .193 with no home runs and 6 runs batted in in 17 games.

Diplomacy
The Kellogg–Briand Pact, renouncing war as an instrument of foreign policy, went into effect; it was first signed in Paris on August 27, 1928, by most leading world powers.

Baseball
Hack Wilson hit 2 home runs to lead the Chicago Cubs to their ninth straight win, 8-7 over the New York Giants before 22,000 fans at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The Giants scored all their runs in the 6th inning.

Jimmie Wilson hit a 2-run home run with 2 out in the bottom of the 8th inning to break a 4-4 tie as the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 6-4 before 2,000 fans at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.

Pinch hitter Mark Koenig doubled home Bob Meusel and Bill Dickey, and Herb Pennock followed with a single to score Mr. Koenig as the New York Yankees scored 3 runs with 2 out in the bottom of the 8th inning and defeated the Detroit Tigers 7-5 at Yankee Stadium. Detroit center fielder Sam Rice was ejected by home plate umpire Brick Owens in the 8th inning for disputing a third strike call; it was Mr. Rice's second ejection in his past 3 games.

75 years ago
1934

Weather
Chicago recorded its highest temperature to date, 105 F.

Baseball
Les Tietje pitched a 6-hitter in the record heat in Chicago to lead the White Sox past the Washington Nationals 4-1 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Johnny Gill’s home run accounted for the lone Washington run.

The New York Yankees lost centre fielder Earle Combs for the rest of the season with a broken collarbone and fractured skull when he crashed into the center field wall at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis in a game against the St. Louis Browns. The Yankees also lost the game, 4-2. They called up George Selkirk from the Newark Bears of the International League only to learn that Mr. Selkirk had broken his arm that day.

60 years ago
1949

Disasters
The typhoon which had struck Okinawa the previous day swept into Shanghai, causing deaths and extensive flooding, with 200,000 residents left homeless.

Baseball
Stan Musial hit for the cycle to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 14-1 rout of the Brooklyn Dodgers before 34,042 fans at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. Howie Pollet pitched an 8-hit complete game to improve his 1949 record to 13-5.

The New York Giants honoured former star Frankie Frisch at the Polo Grounds with gifts that included two television sets. Mr. Frisch, now managing the Chicago Cubs, received the gift of a doubleheader sweep by scores of 5-3 and 6-1 before 22,419 fans. The Cubs recorded 5 double plays in the first game and 2 more in the second.

The Pittsburgh Pirates scored 3 runs in the top of the 9th inning to overcome a 5-4 deficit and held on to defeat the Boston Braves 7-6 to complete the sweep of a doubleheader before 21,986 fans at Braves Field. The Braves scored a run in the bottom of the 9th and had runners on first and second bases with 2 out, but pinch hitter Bill Salkeld flied out to center field to end the game. The Pirates came back from an early 3-0 deficit to win the first game 4-3.

The New York Yankees scored 4 runs in the top of the 11th inning to break a 2-2 tie as they defeated the Detroit Tigers 6-3 before 39,795 fans at Briggs Stadium in Detroit.

Bob Lemon hit his 5th and 6th home runs of the season, drew a base on balls, and scored 3 runs to support his own pitching, allowing 9 hits and 5 earned runs in 8 1/3 innings to improve his record for the season to 12-4, as the Cleveland Indians defeated the Washington Nationals 7-5 in the first game of a doubleheader before 51,353 fans at Municipal Stadium in Cleveland. Mickey Vernon batted 3 for 4 with 2 homers, 3 runs, and 4 runs batted in against his old team to lead the Indians to a 5-2 win in the second game to complete the sweep, with Gene Bearden pitching a 6-hit complete game victory.

Joe Coleman and Bobby Shantz were the respective winning pitchers as the Philadelphia Athletics swept a doubleheader from the Chicago White Sox 7-2 and 6-4 before 25,087 fans at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

50 years ago
1959

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): Dream Lover--Bobby Darin (4th week at #1)

Died on this date
Narciso Bassols Garcia, 61. Mexican politician and diplomat. Mr. Bassols was the first Marxist to hold a cabinet post in Mexico, serving as Secretary of Public Education from 1931-1934. He socialized and secularized the educational system and introduced sex education into the schools, earning the opposition of traditionalists. Mr. Bassols was then briefly Secretary of the Interior and Secretary of Finance from 1934-1935 before beginning a diplomatic career as Mexican Ambassador to the United Kingdom (1935-1937); Delegate to the League of Nations (1937-1938); Ambassador to France (1938-1939); and Ambassador to the U.S.S.R. (1944-1946). He co-founded the Partido Popular (Popular Party) with Vicente Lombardo Toledano in 1948, but split with Mr. Lombardo Toledano and left the party a year later following disputed elections in Sonora.

Diplomacy
U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon and U.S.S.R. Premier Nikita Khruschchev engaged in a war of words over the merits of capitalism and communism at an American trade exhibition in Moscow’s Sokolniki Park. The exchange, which took place in front of a mock-up of an American kitchen, became known as the "kitchen debate." Mr. Nixon had arrived in the U.S.S.R. the previous day to begin an 11-day visit.



The foreign ministers of the U.S.A., U.S.S.R., U.K., and France resumed private talks in Geneva on a Berlin settlement after the U.S.S.R. dropped its demands for prior agreement on an all-German committee to seek terms for German reunification.

Politics and government
King Mahendra opened the first elected Parliament in Nepal's history.

The formation of a multi-racial Kenya National Party was announced in Nairobi.

Scandal
A U.S. federal court in Washington sentenced Boston industrialist Bernard Goldfine to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine, but suspended both penalties on condition that Mr. Goldfine answer the questions of a Special House of Representatives subcommittee on Legislative Oversight.

Economics and finance
U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Anderson told the Joint Congressional Economic Committee that it would be more effective to reduce bank reserve requirements than to buy government securities when it was desirable to expand the credit base in a recession.

Baseball
As a prelude to the International League game in Havana between the Sugar Kings and the Rochester Red Wings, Cuban President Fidel Castro pitched 2 innings, recording 2 strikeouts, for his pickup team Los Barbudos against a military police squad.

40 years ago
1969

Space
The Apollo 11 command module Columbia splashed down in the Pacific Ocean at 9:50 A.M. MST, 250 miles south of Johnston Island. Astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins were picked up by the U.S. aircraft carrier Hornet, and were put into a quarantine facility in case they’d picked up any lunar germs. U.S. President Richard Nixon was aboard the Hornet to greet the astronauts.





To follow the Apollo 11 mission in real time, go to Apollo 11 in Real Time.

For more on this date, see The Days of Apollo 11.

30 years ago
1979

World events
The United Nations Security Council agreed to withdraw its 4,031-member armed UN Emergency Force from the Sinai Peninsula, but, with United States support, placed a corps of military observers in the Sinai to monitor Israel’s withdrawal, scheduled for the next day. Israel charged that an unarmed force of a few hundred men was inadequate to the tasks stipulated by the peace treaty that Israel and Egypt had signed several months earlier.

Society
The United States House of Representatives voted 216-209 to reject a proposed constitutional amendment to ban forced busing to achieve school integration.

Football
CFL
Ottawa (2-0) 31 @ Toronto (1-2) 2
British Columbia (3-0) 19 @ Winnipeg (0-3) 18

Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ head coach Ray Jauch started former Baltimore Colts’ backup Billy Troup at quarterback, with Dieter Brock on the sidelines.

Baseball
Carl Yastrzemski hit his 400th career major league home run in the 7th inning off Mike Morgan as the Boston Red Sox defeated the Oakland Athletics 7-3 before 30,393 fans at Fenway Park in Boston. Dennis Eckersley pitched an 8-hit complete game to improve his 1979 record to 11-5, while Mr. Morgan fell to 0-6.

The Kansas City Royals scored 7 runs in the 8th inning to overcome a 6-4 deficit and defeat the Chicago White Sox 11-6 before 11,393 fans at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

The New York Mets scored 2 runs in the top of the 12th inning to break a 4-4 tie and held on to defeat the San Francisco Giants 6-5 before 24,821 fans at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. The Giants were apparently so short of players at the end of the game that pitcher Vida Blue was sent to bat as a pinch hitter to lead off the bottom of the 12th inning. He drew a base on balls and came around to score on a ground out by Darrell Evans. Jack Clark was at third base with 2 out, but Larry Herndon flied out to center field to end the game.

Steve Garvey, Ron Cey, Dusty Baker, and Joe Ferguson batted a combined 13 for 19 with 2 home runs (Cey and Baker), a base on balls, 11 runs, and 9 runs batted in for the Los Angeles Dodgers as they routed the Philadelphia Phillies 15-3 before 39,336 fans at Dodger Stadium.

Ozzie Smith drew a base on balls to lead off the bottom of the 14th inning and scored from second base on a 1-out single by Paul Dade to give the San Diego Padres a 4-3 win over the Montreal Expos before 16,190 fans at San Diego Stadium. The Expos made 5 errors, with 3 of them coming in the 6th inning, resulting in 3 unearned runs to give the Padres a 3-0 lead.

25 years ago
1984

Diplomacy
The United States responded privately to the U.S.S.R.’s call for a ban on space weapons with its own draft of a joint statement.

Politics and government
U.S. President Ronald Reagan said that he had no plans to raise taxes in 1985.

Economics and finance
The United States Labor Department reported that the Consumer Price Index had risen 0.2% in June.

20 years ago
1989

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Australian Music Report): The Look--Roxette (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): The Look--Roxette (5th week at #1)

Canada's top 10 (RPM)
1 Express Yourself--Madonna
2 Good Thing--Fine Young Cannibals
3 If You Don't Know Me by Now--Simply Red
4 Baby Don't Forget My Number--Milli Vanilli
5 Toy Soldiers--Martika
6 Batdance--Prince
7 So Alive--Love and Rockets
8 This Time I Know it's for Real--Donna Summer
9 Buffalo Stance--Neneh Cherry
10 Rooms on Fire--Stevie Nicks

Singles entering the chart were Waterline by Paradox (#79); Secret Rendezvous by Karyn White (#82); Little Fighter by White Lion (#87); Runnin' Down a Dream by Tom Petty (#89); Anything Can Happen by Was (Not Was) (#91); If I Could Turn Back Time by Cher (#93); and Breakthru by Queen (#94).

Politics and government
Japanese Prime Minister Sousuke Uno announced that he took responsibility for his Liberal Democratic Party’s poor showing in the previous day’s House of Councillors election, and that he would resign his office when a replacement was chosen. Mr. Uno had been Prime Minister for just seven weeks.

Business
A Delaware Supreme Court panel upheld the July 14 Chancery Court ruling that rejected an attempt by Paramount Communications and some Time, Inc. stockholders to prevent Time's purchase of Warner Communications. Paramount withdrew its offer, and Time immediately acquired Warner for $14 billion--$70 per share.

10 years ago
1999

Baseball
Designated hitter Chili Davis batted 5 for 6 with a home run, double, 3 runs, and 6 runs batted in to help the New York Yankees rout the Cleveland Indians 21-1 before 54,870 fans at Yankee Stadium. Tom Candiotti, the third of four Cleveland pitchers, allowed 4 hits, 3 bases on balls, and 5 runs--all earned--in 2/3 inning in the 452nd and last game of his 16-year major league career.

Trot Nixon hit 3 home runs and drove in 5 runs and Nomar Garciaparra added a pair of solo home tuns to help the Boston Red Sox defeat the Detroit Tigers 11-4 before 37,149 fans at Tiger Stadium. The Red Sox hit 7 home runs, one shy of the team record for a single game, while the Tigers hit 3 homers.

Jason Giambi hit a pair of 3-run home runs to lead the Oakland Athletics to a 12-2 rout of the Kansas City Royals before 29,739 fans at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. John Jaha of the Athletics was hit by a pitch and reached base 3 times on bases on balls, and came around to score on all 4 occasions, giving him 4 runs without a hit.