August 10, 2009

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Grant Devitt!

490 years ago
1519

Exploration
Ferdinand Magellan's five ships set sail from Seville to circumnavigate the globe. Basque second-in-command Juan Sebastián Elcano completed the expedition after Mr. Magellan's death in the Philippines in 1521.

250 years ago
1759

Died on this date
Ferdinand VI, 45. King of Spain, 1746-1759. Ferdinand VI succeeded his father Philip V on the throne. Ferdinand VI was in turn succeeded by his brother Charles III.

200 years ago
1809

South Americana
Quito, now the capital of Ecuador, declared independence from Spain. The rebellion was crushed on August 2, 1810.

150 years ago
1859

Born on this date
Larry Corcoran. U.S. baseball pitcher. Mr. Corcoran has been credited with being the first pitcher to work out a series of signals with his catcher. Pitching for the Chicago White Stockings in the National League, he posted a record of 170-84 from 1880-1884, peaking with a 27-12 record in 1884. He died of drink and Bright's disease on October 14, 1891 at the age of 32.

120 years ago
1889

Born on this date
Charles Darrow. U.S. game designer. Mr. Darrow, a domestic heater salesman in Philadelphia, received a copyright for the board game Monopoly in 1933, and sold the game to Parker Brothers in 1935 after receiving a patent for the game. He died on August 29, 1967, 19 days after his 78th birthday.

Baseball
In American Association action, the Cincinnati Reds embarrassed the Baltimore Orioles 20-0 at League Park in Cincinnati, with Jesse Duryea winning over Frank Foreman. Hugh Nichols had 5 of the Reds’ 26 hits.

100 years ago
1909

Born on this date
Leo Fender. U.S. inventor. Mr. Fender founded Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company in 1946, and became famous for designing electric guitars, electric bass guitars, and amplifiers. He died on March 21, 1991 at the age of 81, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.

Richard J. Hughes. U.S. politician and judge. Mr. Hughes, a Democrat, was a judge on the Superior Court of New Jersey from 1952-1957 before serving as Governor of New Jersey from 1962-1970 and Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court from 1973-1979. He died on December 7, 1992 at the age of 83.

80 years ago
1929

Baseball
The Philadelphia Phillies scored 5 runs in the 4th inning as they beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-1 in the first game of a doubleheader before 10,000 fans at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia. Claude Willoughby pitched a 7-hit complete game victory. The Cardinals scored 2 runs in the top of the 11th inning to break a 9-9 tie as they came back from an 8-0 deficit to win the second game 11-9. Former Phillies’ ace Grover Cleveland Alexander pitched the last 4 innings of the second game for the Cardinals without giving up a run, and earned his 373rd career major league victory, tying Christy Mathewson’s National League record. It also turned out to be Mr. Alexander’s last major league win.

75 years ago
1934

Baseball
Babe Ruth announced that the current season would be his last as a regular player; he would seek a managerial position and be available as a pinch hitter.

Schoolboy Rowe won his 12th straight decision, giving up 13 hits in 11 innings and driving in the winning run with a sacrifice fly as the Detroit Tigers edged the Cleveland Indians 6-5.

70 years ago
1939

Baseball
The Boston Red Sox defeated the Philadelphia Athletics 7-5 before 4,000 fans at Fenway Park in Boston, while the Washington Nationals defeated the New York Yankees by the same score before 14,000 fans at Griffith Stadium in Washington.

Si Johnson easily picked up his 19th win of the season as the Rochester Red Wings bombed the visiting Jersey City Giants 26-1 in an International League game at Red Wing Stadium.

60 years ago
1949

On the radio
A Book at Bedtime, read by Laidman Browne, on BBC Light Programme
Tonight's episode: The Speckled Band, Part 3

Literature
The Mature Mind by psychologist Harry Overstreet was published by Norton.

Aviation
The prototype of the Avro Canada C-102 Jetliner made its maiden flight, at Malton, Ontario. The plane was designed to meet a Trans-Canada Airlines requirement of a 36-seat passenger jet to travel at 425 miles per hour with refuelling range of 500 miles. The flight broke all passenger transport records and exceeded all design requirements, reaching 39,800 feet and exceeding 500 mph in level flight.

Defense
U.S. President Harry Truman signed a bill strengthening armed forces unification by placing the service secretaries under direct Defense Department authority. Defense Secretary Louis Johnson established a National Defense Management Committee to implement the bill's provisions.

Politics and government
Greece and Turkey formally joined the Council of Europe.

A new Belgian cabinet was formed under Christian Socialist leader Gaston Eyskens, with Christian Socialist and Liberal participation.

Protest
Jewish refugees in Munich, protesting against an anti-Semitic letter in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, rioted when police attempted to break up their demonstration. 4 protesters and 30 policemen were injured.

Crime
A U.S. federal district court in Chicago ordered the release of James Montgomery, a Negro from Waukegan, Illinois who had served 25 years of a life sentence for rape. The court called Mr. Montgomery's original trial a "sham" in which vital evidence had been suppressed by the prosecution.

Scandal
U.S. Federal Housing Expediter Tighe Woods completed two days of testimony before the Senate subcommittee investigating influence-peddling. He claimed that presidential military aid Harry Vaughan had interceded with him in 1948 to procure scarce building materials for repair of a race track in San Bruno, California.

Labour
United Auto Workers of America members employed by Ford Motor Company in Michigan voted overwhelmingly to strike if necessary to enforce their demand for a $100 monthly retirement pension and a health plan.

Boxing
Ezzard Charles (64-5-1) retained his National Boxing Association world heavyweight title with a knockout of former world light heavyweight champion Gus Lesnevich (61-14-5) at Yankee Stadium in New York when Mr. Lesnevich's corner refused to let their fighter come out for the 8th round. It was Mr. Lesnevich's last professional fight. The New York State Athletic Commission refused to recognize the bout as a title fight.

50 years ago
1959

Hit parade
#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Un Telegrama--Monna Bell

U.S.A. Top 10 (Billboard)
1 A Big Hunk o' Love--Elvis Presley
2 Lonely Boy--Paul Anka
3 My Heart is an Open Book--Carl Dobkins, Jr.
4 There Goes My Baby--The Drifters
5 Lavender-Blue--Sammy Turner
6 Tiger--Fabian
7 The Battle of New Orleans--Johnny Horton
8 What a Diff'rence a Day Makes--Dinah Washington
9 What'd I Say (Parts I and II)--Ray Charles and his Orchestra
10 Waterloo--Stonewall Jackson

Singles entering the chart were I Want to Walk You Home by Fats Domino (#46); I'm Gonna Get Married by Lloyd Price (#65); Like I Love You by Edd Byrnes and Friend (#82); I've Been There by Tommy Edwards (#86); Don't Tell Me Your Troubles by Don Gibson (#95); Furry Murray by the Tradewinds (#96); Just as Much as Ever by Bob Beckham (#98); and I Ain't Never by Webb Pierce (#100).

Vancouver's Top 10 (CKWX)
1 Lonely Boy--Paul Anka (4th week at #1)
2 Robbin' the Cradle--Tony Bellus
3 Mona Lisa--Conway Twitty
4 A Big Hunk o' Love/My Wish Came True--Elvis Presley
5 The Battle of New Orleans--Johnny Horton
6 Lipstick on Your Collar/Frankie--Connie Francis
7 Personality--Lloyd Price
8 Velvet Waters--The Megatrons
9 Here Comes Summer--Jerry Keller
10 Sweeter than You/Just a Little Too Much--Ricky Nelson

Singles entering the chart were Cry by the Knightsbridge Strings (#41); A Girl Like You by Gary Stites (#51); Like I Love You by Edd Byrnes and Friend (#52); Smile by Tony Bennett (#53); ('Til) I Kissed You by the Everly Brothers (#54); Primrose Lane by Jerry Wallace with the Jewels (#55); Five Feet High and Rising by Johnny Cash (#56, charting with its other side, I Got Stripes); Sal's Got a Sugar Lip by Johnny Horton (#57); With Open Arms by Jane Morgan (#59); and Now Hear This by the Ames Brothers (#60).

Defense
The New York Times reported that the Big Four foreign ministers had agreed in the concluding sessions of their Geneva conference to establish a new 10-nation council on disarmament to assume the functions of the dormant 82-member United Nations Disarmament Commission.

The Costa Rican government established a military zone along its border with Nicaragua to prevent attacks on Nicaragua by Costa Rican-based guerrillas.

General Leander Doan, U.S. Army Commander in Taiwan, announced that Nationalist Chinese troops would take control of Nike-Hercules missiles and launching sites on the island.

World events
The controversial "black diaries" of Sir Roger Casement, the Irish patriot hanged in 1916 by the United Kingdom as a Germany spy, were opened to public inspection for the first time.

Crime
Convicted rapist Caryl Chessman was sentenced in Los Angeles to die in the gas chamber on October 23, 1959.

Labour
7,000 members of the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, along with 4,500 other workers, went on strike against the Kennecott Copper Corporation in a wage dispute.

Boxing
Pascual Perez (53-1-1) retained his world flyweight title with a 15-round unanimous decision over Kenji Yonekura (4-3) at Metropolitan Gym in Tokyo.

Football
CFL
Pre-Season
Saskatchewan (0-2) 19 @ Montreal (2-1) 53

40 years ago
1969

On television tonight
Conquest of Space, hosted by Percy Saltzman, on CBC

Died on this date
Leno LaBianca, 44; Rosemary LaBianca, 39. U.S. crime victims. Mr. LaBianca owned a grocery store and Mrs. LaBianca operated a dress shop. The couple were residents of the Los Angeles suburb of Los Feliz. They were murdered in their home--four days after Mr. LaBianca's 44th birthday--by members of Charles Manson's "family," the night after similar murders of actress Sharon Tate and four others in Beverly Hills.

Space
Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins were released from quarantine, showing no signs of having picked up lunar organisms, and were reunited with their families in Houston. They had been sequestered immediately upon being picked up from the Pacific Ocean by the U.S. aircraft carrier Hornet.

War
The Ghor Canal, which carries water to valuable Jordanian agricultural lands, was shattered in sections by Israeli jets in retaliation against a new wave of Jordanian attacks on Israel.

Politics and government
Italy’s Christian Democratic government, led by Prime Minister Mariano Rumor, won its first parliamentary vote of confidence with the support of its former Socialist allies. The chamber of Deputies approved Italy’s 30th post-World War II government by a vote of 346-245.

Economics and finance
The French government headed off expected widespread price increases by decreeing that all industrial prices and nearly all markups by wholesalers and retailers be blocked at the previous week’s level, before the surprise devaluation of the franc.

Scandal
Wright Patman (Democrat--Texas), chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Banking and Currency Committee, charged that Charles "Bebe" Rebozo, a close friend of President Richard Nixon, was given a series of "special favors" by the Small Business Administration, including an $80,000 loan granted over the objections of the agency’s staff.

30 years ago
1979

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Born to Be Alive--Patrick Hernandez (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): So Bist Du--Peter Maffay (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in France (IFOP): Honesty--Billy Joel (5th week at #1)

At the movies
Americathon, directed by Neal Israel, and starring John Ritter, Harvey Korman, Peter Riegert, Fred Willard, and many others, opened in theatres.



Died on this date
Dick Foran, 69. U.S. actor. Mr. Foran played supporting roles in numerous movies and television programs, including many Westerns, from the mid-1930s through the late '60s. He died of respiratory ailments and pneumonia.

Politics and government
The U.S. administration of President Jimmy Carter was hit by more resignations: White House counsel Robert Lipschutz; presidential assistant Timothy Kraft (to head the Carter-Mondale re-election committee); and personnel consultant Daniel Horgan (his name was linked to a probe of a New Jersey housing agency which had been under his supervision).

Economics and finance
Governors of six industrial states where Chrysler Corporation had operations asked the administration of U.S. President Jimmy Carter to help the financially troubled company rehabilitate itself.

Business
It was publicly announced that a domed stadium would be built in downtown Minneapolis, to become the home of the Minnesota Twins and Minnesota Vikings.

Baseball
This blogger and his parents were among 13,742 in attendance at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington to watch a twi-night doubleheader between the Minnesota Twins and Oakland Athletics. In the first game, Mike Heath came to bat as a pinch hitter in the 9th inning and singled in the tying run, then remained in the game and drove in the winning run in the 11th with a sacrifice fly as the Athletics won 6-5. In the second game, Ken Landreaux’s third single of the game drove in pinch runner Willie Norwood with the winning run in the 12th inning as the Twins won 3-2. Dave Heaverlo was the winning pitcher in the first game and the loser in the second game. The doubleheader started shortly after 5:30 P.M. The first game went 3 hours and 14 minutes, and the second game lasted 3 hours and 56 minutes. The second game ended at about 12:50 A.M. Saturday, just 10 minutes before a curfew would have suspended play. Indicative of the calibre of play was the fact that in the first game, two Minnesota runners were picked off second base by Oakland catcher Jeff Newman.

The Kansas City Royals scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th inning to beat the Detroit Tigers 7-6 in the first game of a twi-night doubleheader before 37,012 fans at Royals Stadium. The Royals scored 4 runs in the 2nd inning to take a 5-0 lead as they coasted to a 7-3 win in the second game to complete the sweep.

Right fielder Dan Ford batted 5 for 7 and hit for the cycle, but his California Angels lost 8-6 in 14 innings to the Seattle Mariners before 28,969 fans at Anaheim Stadium. Joe Simpson singled home the winning runs in the 14th inning to break a 6-6 tie.

Garry Templeton batted 4 for 5 with 3 runs and 2 runs batted in to help the St. Louis Cardinals defeat the Chicago Cubs 13-8 in the first game of a twi-night doubleheader before fans at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. The Cardinals scored 4 runs in the 4th inning as they won the second game 5-3 to complete the sweep. St. Louis first baseman Keith Hernandez batted 4 for 4 with a double, run, and 2 runs batted in in the second game. Chicago left fielder Dave Kingman hit a home run in each game.

Derrel Thomas hit a grand slam between solo home runs by Ron Cey and Dave Lopes as the Los Angeles Dodgers scored 6 runs in the 2nd inning of a 9-0 rout of the San Francisco Giants before 31,530 fans at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Rookie right fielder Mickey Hatcher batted 3 for 3 wth 2 bases on balls, with a double and his first major league home run. Don Sutton pitched a 5-hit shutout.

25 years ago
1984

Died on this date
Virgil Partch, 67. U.S. cartoonist. Mr. Partch created the comic strip Big George.

Olympics
American favourite Mary Decker and South African Zola Budd, competing for Great Britain, collided in the final of the women’s 3000 metre run. Miss Decker fell to the infield grass in pain, her race over. The crowd at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum began booing, and Miss Budd became unnerved and finished seventh. Maricica Puica of Romania won the gold medal.

Football
CFL
Montreal (2-4) 15 @ Winnipeg (5-1) 45

20 years ago
1989

Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Finnish Singles Chart): Minä olen muistanut--Kim Lönnholm (11th week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Swing the Mood--Various Artists

Diplomacy
Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda said that he would soon meet with F.W. de Klerk, leader of the governing National Party in South Africa.

Defense
U.S. President George Bush nominated Army General Colin Powell to succeed Admiral William Crowe, who was set to retire on September 30, as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Swimming
Vicki Keith of Canada became the first person to swim the 20-mile Strait of Juan de Fuca, off the coast of British Columbia, using the butterfly stroke.

Football
CFL
Winnipeg (2-3) 12 @ Toronto (3-2) 20
Hamilton (4-1) 8 @ Calgary (3-2) 40

At SkyDome in Toronto, Blue Bomber running back Rodney Payne carried 12 times for 37 yards in his only Canadian Football League game.



Baseball
The Philadelphia Phillies hit 4 home runs in a 16-11 win over the Chicago Cubs before 36,745 fans at Wrigley Field in Chicago. John Kruk hit one of the Phillies’ homers and drove in 5 runs. Ryne Sandberg hit 2 home runs and had 4 RBIs for the Cubs, who blew a 10-3 lead.

Nolan Ryan of the Texas Rangers lost a no-hit bid with 1 out in the 9th inning on a single by Dave Bergman and double by Matt Nokes, and needed relief help to preserve a 4-1 win over the Detroit Tigers before 35,266 fans at Arlington Stadium.

San Francisco Giants’ pitcher Dave Dravecky, coming back from arm surgery, pitched 7 shutout innings and held on for his first win of the season, 4-3 over the Cincinnati Reds before 34,810 fans at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

10 years ago
1999

World events
Islamic militants in the region of Dagestan in southern Russian declared Dagestan to be an independent state.

War
An Indian military plane shot down a Pakistani naval plane, killing all 16 aboard. India said the plane was six miles inside Indian airspace; Pakistan denied this, and said the unarmed plane was on a routine training mission.

Crime
Buford Furrow, Jr., a white supremacist gunman, opened fire in the lobby of the North Valley Jewish Community Center in Los Angeles, wounding three young children and two staff members. He then killed a Filipino-American mailman named Joseph Ileto a few miles away.

Environment
The North American Free Trade Agreement, in a report, identified Ontario as the second-worst polluter in North America, after Texas.

Labour
Major league baseball umpires dropped the lawsuit that they had filed July 26 regarding umpires who had submitted their resignations.

Baseball
All nine Baltimore starting batters scored at least 1 run and reached base at least twice as the Orioles whipped the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 17-1 before 16,829 fans at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. Mike Bordick batted 4 for 6 with 2 doubles, a base on balls, 2 runs, and 5 runs batted in.

The Boston Red Sox scored 4 runs in the top of the 10th inning to break a 5-5 tie as they beat the Kansas City Royals 9-6 before 15,906 fans at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

Pinch hitter Tom Lampkin doubled home Frankie Rodriguez and John Mabry with 1 out in the bottom of the 9th inning to give the Seattle Mariners a 4-3 win over the Chicago White Sox before 43,696 fans at Safeco Field in Seattle.

Dave Berg batted 4 for 4 with a home run, 2 bases on balls, 2 runs, and 4 runs batted in, and singled home Danny Bautista from second base with 1 out in the bottom of the 12th inning to give the Florida Marlins an 8-7 win over the San Francisco Giants before 13,553 fans at Pro Player Stadium in Miami.

The Philadelphia Phillies scored 5 runs in the bottom of the 8th inning as they overcame a 5-2 deficit and defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 7-5 before 48,514 fans at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. The Cardinals had runners on first and second bases with 2 out in the 9th, but Placido Polanco grounded out to shortstop to end the game.