August 7, 2009

530 years ago
1479

War
Burgundian forces led by Archduke Maximilian of Habsburg defeated French troops of King Louis XI in the Battle of Guinegate in France.

330 years ago
1679

Transportation
René de La Salle launched his 46-ton trading vessel Le Griffon, on Lake Erie near the mouth of the Niagara River. Armed with seven cannons, the vessel was the first European sailing ship on the upper Great Lakes.

220 years ago
1789

Politics and government
The United States Congress established the U.S. War Department.

190 years ago
1819

War
Simón Bolívar led his forces to victory over Spanish forces commanded by José María Barreiro in the Battle of Boyacá in New Granada, now part of Colombia.

125 years ago
1884

Baseball
The Philadelphia Keystones of the Union Association folded, with a record of 21-46. They were unable to compete with the Phillies of the National League and the Athletics of the American Association.

120 years ago
1889

Baseball
The Cleveland Spiders scored 14 runs in the 3rd inning en route to a 20-6 rout of the Washington Statesmen at National League Park in Cleveland. Mike Sullivan went the distance on the mound for Washington.

110 years ago
1899

Baseball
Vic Willis of the Boston Beaneaters was officially credited with a no-hitter in a 7-1 win over the Washington Senators at South End Grounds in Boston. Local newspaper reports in both Boston and Washington claimed that Bill Dinneen had singled to lead off the 6th inning.

100 years ago
1909

Transportation
Alice Huyler Ramsey and three friends became the first women to complete a transcontinental auto trip, taking 59 days to travel from New York City to San Francisco.

90 years ago
1919

Politics and government
Former Labour Minister Mackenzie King was elected leader of the Liberal Party of Canada on the third ballot at the party's leadership convention at Howick Hall in Ottawa. Mr. King received 476 votes to 438 for former Canadian Finance Minister and Nova Scotia Premier William Stevens Fielding. George Perry Graham and Daniel McKenzie withdrew after the second ballot. Mr. McKenzie had been interim leader of the party since the death of Sir Wilfrid Laurier on February 17, 1919.

Labour
100 or more actors in 12 shows on Broadway in New York City walked out in the middle of their performances to protest theatre managers' refusal to negotiate with the Actors' Equity Association. The actors' demands included four-week limits on unpaid rehearsals; half pay for the weeks following the limit; payment for extra matinees; and stipends for playing out of town. The strike spread to eight cities, shut down 37 plays, and prevented the opening of 16 others before it ended 30 days later, with the union getting most of what it wanted, in a five-year contract.

80 years ago
1929

Labour
The Canadian government of Prime Minister Mackenzie King banned immigrants from entering Canada under labour contracts, except farm or domestic workers.

Baseball
Babe Ruth hit his second grand slam in as many games, and Mark Koenig added a 3-run homer as the New York Yankees scored 7 runs in the 2nd inning to take a 10-1 lead and coasted to a 13-1 rout of the Philadelphia Athletics in the first game of a doubleheader before 40,000 fans at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. George Pipgras pitched a 7-hitter, while Philadelphia starting pitcher Howard Ehmke allowed 5 hits, 4 bases on balls, and 8 runs--all earned--in 1 1/3 innings. The Athletics scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 8th inning to overcome a 2-1 deficit and win the second game 4-2, as George Earnshaw allowed 5 hits and 1 earned run in 8 innings to get the win and improve his 1929 record to 18-5, while Lefty Grove pitched a perfect 9th inning to get the save. Roy Sherid pitched an 8-hit complete game, allowing just 2 earned runs, to fall to 0-2.

Dale Alexander batted 4 for 6 with a home run, double, 3 runs, and 6 runs batted in to help the Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians 14-4 at League Park in Cleveland.

75 years ago
1934

Baseball
Dizzy Dean became the first pitcher in 1934 to win 20 games as he pitched the St. Louis Cardinals to a 2-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds in the first game of a doubleheader at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. The Reds won the second game 9-2.

60 years ago
1949

Died on this date
Percy Newberry, 80. U.K. Egyptologist. Professor Newberry began researching Egyptology in the 1880s, and began travelling to Egypt in the 1890s. He was part of Howard Carter's expedition that discovered the tomb of King Tutankhamen in 1922, and specialized in botanical specimens.

Aviation
A British Gloster Meteor set an endurance record for jet aircraft of 12 hours 3 minutes in a flight of 3,600 miles over England.

Politics and government
Pham Van Dong was named Vice President of Ho Chi Minh's Viet Minh government in Indochina.

Education
Methodist Bishop G. Bromley Oxnam of New York attacked Roman Catholic demands for federal aid to parochial schools, accusing the Church of jeopardizing the entire aid-to-education program.

Baseball
13 different New York Yankees scored at least 1 run as they routed the St. Louis Browns 20-2 in the first game of a doubleheader before 45,002 fans at Yankee Stadium. Yogi Berra and Joe DiMaggio each hit a 3-run home run, but Mr. Berra later suffered a broken thumb when he was hit by a pitch,and was out of action for the next three weeks. The only Yankee not to score was pitcher Tommy Byrne, who batted 2 for 6 with 2 runs batted in, and pitched a 6-hitter. The second game was called because of darkness and because the rules prohibited turning on lights in mid-game, with the score tied 2-2 after 10 innings. St. Louis pitcher Al Papai pitched a 2-hit complete game in the second game.

Joe Hatten pitched a 7-hitter and Bruce Edwards hit a grand slam in the 6th inning as the Brooklyn Dodgers shut out the Cincinnati Reds 7-0 in the first game of a doubleheader before 31,433 fans at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. In the second game, Pee Wee Reese led off the game with a single and Spider Jorgensen followed with a home run, and that held up for a 2-1 Brooklyn win to complete the sweep, as Rex Barney allowed 6 hits and 1 earned run in 6 1/3 innings, and Mr. Hatten pitched 1 2/3 innings of 1-hit scoreless relief.

50 years ago
1959

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): Living Doll--Cliff Richard and the Drifters (2nd week at #1)

On television tonight
Don Messer's Jubilee, on CBC

Produced in Halifax and originally broadcast only in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, the folk music program was broadcast nationally in Canada for the first time, originally as a summer replacement for Country Hoedown.

Space
The U.S.A. launched Explorer 6, whose purpose was to study fields and particles, cloud cover, and micrometeoroids. It was the first U.S. satellite to send back a picture of earth.



War
The Laotian Army announced that 157 regular soldiers and 120 home guardsmen had been killed, wounded, or reported missing since the beginning of Pathet Lao attacks.

Economics and finance
U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a bill authorizing U.S. participation in the Inter-American Development Bank, with headquarters in Washington and a $1-billion capitalization.

The Lincoln Memorial design on the U.S. penny went into circulation; it replaced the "sheaves of wheat" design, and was minted until 2008.

40 years ago
1969

Died on this date
Russ Morgan, 65. U.S. bandleader and songwriter. Mr. Morgan was popular in the 1930s and 1940s. He co-wrote the song You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You, and was the first to record it.

Joseph Kosma, 63. Hungarian-born French composer. Mr. Kosma emigrated to Paris in 1933, where he was banned from composing under the German occupation of France during World War II. He was best known for writing film scored, including Les Portes de la Nuit (Gates of the Night) (1946), from which the music for the song Les feuilles mortes (Autumn Leaves) was derived.

War
Viet Cong guerrillas invaded the U.S. base at Camranh Bay, killing 2 Americans in the Army hospital and wounding 99, including 53 patients. Terrorists also bombed the American-run school in Saigon’s Chinatown, killing 9 Vietnamese. The provisional revolutionary government in South Vietnam, recently formed by the National Liberation Front, indicated that it had been discussing a coalition regime with other groups inside and outside South Vietnam.

Politics and government
The chief Soviet delegate to the Romanian Communist party congress said that "perfidious" bridge-building was "undermining the cohesion of the Socialist countries" in eastern Europe. The speech was understood as a criticism of U.S. President Richard Nixon’s recent visit to Bucharest, and as a restatement of the emphasis that the U.S.S.R. placed on the cohesion of Communist parties.

Baseball
Bob Skinner resigned as manager of the Philadelphia Phillies because of a lack of front office support in his attempts to discipline star third baseman Dick Allen. The Phillies were in 5th place in the National League East Division with a record of 44-64. Coach George Myatt replaced Mr. Skinner for the balance of the season.

30 years ago
1979

Personal
This blogger spent the afternoon enjoying the company of a certain lovely lady in downtown Winnipeg. She looked very pretty in a nice dress, back in the days when women didn’t have tattoos or body piercings.

Defense
The U.S. administration of President Jimmy Carter reported to Congress that Israel may have violated an agreement with the United States when it used American-supplied jets against Lebanon in July.

Business
British Columbia Resources Investment Corporation (BCRIC) shares were first traded.

Disasters
A huge oil slick from possibly the worst oil spill in history--a Mexican oil well that blew out on August 1--polluted southern Texas beaches.

Football
CFL
Winnipeg (0-4) 10 @ Montreal (3-2) 25
Edmonton (3-0-1) 14 @ British Columbia (4-0-1) 14

The Blue Bombers were angry about the officiating in their loss to the Alouettes at Olympic Stadium, especially when a 40-yard touchdown run by Larry Washington was called back on a holding penalty; there didn’t seem to be any holding on the play, and the call affected the outcome of the play.

A highlight of the game at Empire Stadium in Vancouver was a fake field goal by the Eskimos. Tom Wilkinson took the snap and handed off to kicker Dave Cutler, who ran 13 yards, and almost scored his first CFL touchdown.

25 years ago
1984

Died on this date
Esther Phillips, 48. U.S. singer. Miss Phillips originally recorded as Little Esther Phillips, beginning in 1950, achieving several top 10 hits on the Billboard R&B chart in the early 1950s. Drug addiction derailed her career, but she came back with Release Me in late 1962, which hit #1 on the R&B chart and #8 on the Billboard Hot 100. Problems with drugs continued, but Miss Phillips reached #20 on the Billboard Hot 100 with What a Difference a Day Makes in the fall of 1975. Miss Phillips continued to perform into the 1980s, but years of drug abuse and drinking took their toll, and she died of liver and kidney failure.

Politics and government
The Washington (D.C.) Legal Foundation asked the House of Representatives Ethics Committee to investigate Rep. Geraldine Ferraro, the 1984 Democratic party vice-presidential candidate, for her allegedly improper failure to provide details of her husband’s finances as prescribed by the Ethics in Government Act. Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale suggested that President Ronald Reagan and Vice-President George Bush debate each other on the question of a tax increase.

20 years ago
1989

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Australian Music Report): The Look--Roxette (5th week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): The Look--Roxette (7th week at #1)

Canada's top 10 (RPM)
1 Batdance--Prince
2 So Alive--Love and Rockets
3 Express Yourself--Madonna
4 Toy Soldiers--Martika
5 If You Don't Know Me by Now--Simply Red
6 On Our Own--Bobby Brown
7 Rock 'N' Roll Duty--Kim Mitchell
8 The End of the Innocence--Don Henley
9 Right Here Waiting--Richard Marx
10 Dressed for Success--Roxette

Singles entering the chart were Friends by Jody Watley (#69); Heaven by Warrant (#78); Keep on Movin' by Soul II Soul (#81); Forget Me Not by Bad English (#82); Something to Hold on To by Trevor Rabin (#86); Happy Birthday by Concrete Blonde (#89); and License to Kill by Gladys Knight (#91).

Music
Still Cruisin' , a new single by the Beach Boys, was released on Capitol Records. Written by Mike Love and Terry Melcher, it featured lead vocals by Mike Love, and was from the movie Lethal Weapon 2. Kokomo, the previous year's big hit, was the B-side.

Died on this date
Mickey Leland, 44. U.S. politician. Mr. Leland, a Democrat, represented Texas' 18th District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1979 until his death. He and all 14 other people on board were killed when their plane crashed into a mountain while en route from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to a refugee camp. Mr. Leland, a former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, was in the midst of his sixth trip to the Ethiopia-Sudan region in his capacity as head of the House Select Committee on Hunger.

Politics and government
Lech Walesa, leader of the Solidarity trade union movement in Poland, proposed that Solidarity form a government in combination with the Peasants’ Party and the Democratic Party, minor parties that had been allies of the Communists for 40 years.

Diplomacy
East Germany warned of "serious consequences" as a result of West Germany’s refusal to expel refugees from East Germany who had fled to the West through Hungary. West Germany said that 44,263 East Germans had emigrated to West Germany in the first six months of 1989--most, but not all, with East Germany’s permission. By early August, several hundred East Germans had taken refuge in West German diplomatic facilities in East Berlin, Budapest, and Prague.

Football
CFL
Ottawa (0-5) 22 @ Saskatchewan (4-1) 58

Saskatchewan starting quarterback Tom Burgess completed 20 of 31 passes for 299 yards and 4 touchdowns, while Kent Austin added 8 completions in 13 attempts and 1 touchdown. Tim McCray rushed 15 times for 107 yards and 2 touchdowns and caught 7 passes for 82 yards to lead the Roughrider attack, while Ray Elgaard and Jeff Fairholm each had over 100 yards receiving and 2 touchdowns. Saskatchewan amassed 616 yards net offense and 33 first downs.



10 years ago
1999

War
The Chechnya-based Islamic International Brigade invaded neighboring Dagestan.

Football
NFL
Lawrence Taylor, Eric Dickerson, Tom Mack, Ozzie Newsome, and Billy Shaw were inducted into the Professional Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

Baseball
Tampa Bay Devil Rays’ third baseman Wade Boggs hit a home run off Chris Haney of the Cleveland Indians in the 6th inning before 38,215 fans at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg for his 3,000th career major league hit. Mr. Boggs became the 23rd player to reach the milestone, but the first to do it with a home run. He went 3 for 4 on the game, but the Indians won 15-10. Cleveland center fielder Dave Roberts, batting leadoff, was 3 for 5 with a double, base on balls, stolen base, and 3 runs, while making 2 putouts in his first major league game.



Marty Cordova's 3-run home run climaxed a 4-run 8th inning for the Minnesota Twins as they came back from a 5-2 deficit to defeat the Kansas City Royals 6-5 before 38,391 fans at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

Andy Pettitte and two relief pitchers combined for a 4-hit shutout as the New York Yankees edged the Seattle Mariners 1-0 before 45,202 fans at Safeco Field in Seattle. Losing pitcher Freddy Garcia allowed just 3 hits in pitching a complete game. With 1 out in the top of the 5th inning, Tino Martinez drew a base on ball, advanced to third base on a double by Chili Davis, and scored on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly by Scott Brosius.

The Atlanta Braves scored 4 runs in the 2nd inning, 5 in the 5th, and 5 in the 6th as they came back from an early 3-0 deficit to rout the San Francisco Giants 15-4 before 47,798 fans at Turner Field in Atlanta. Atlanta leadoff hitter Gerald Williams batted 3 for 6 with a home run, double, and 5 runs batted in.

The Los Angeles Dodgers rallied for 3 runs in the top of the 9th inning and held on to defeat the New York Mets 7-6 before 53,656 fans at Shea Stadium in New York. The Mets scored a run in the bottom of the 9th and had runners on first and second bases with none out, but Mike Piazza grounded into a double play and Benny Agbayani grounded out to second to end the game.