September 11, 2009

2,000 years ago
9

War
The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in Lower Saxony ended in the greatest defeat for the Roman Empire in its history; the the Rhine River was established as the border between the Empire and the so-called barbarians for the next 400 years..

660 years ago
1349

Died on this date
Bonne of Luxembourg, 34. French royal family member. Bonne married the future King Jean II of France in 1332, but died of the bubonic plage a year before he acceded to the throne, and was therefore never a French queen.

440 years ago
1569

Died on this date
Vincenza Armani, 39 (?). Italian actress. Miss Armani was one of the most famous Italian actresses of the mid-16th century. She was the first famous Italian actress in commedia dell'arte, and the first Italian prima donna. Miss Armani was reportedly poisoned, possibly by a former lover.

400 years ago
1609

Exploration
Henry Hudson discovered Manhattan Island and the indigenous people living there

360 years ago
1649

War
Oliver Cromwell's English Parliamentarian troops ended the Siege of Drogheda by taking the Irish town and executing its garrison.

300 years ago
1709

War
Grand Alliance forces commanded by the Duke of Marlborough won a Pyrrhic victory over French forces led by the Duc de Villars in the Battle of Malplaquet. The Grand Alliance suffered 24,263 casualties, almost twice as many as France, preventing the victors from invading France.

220 years ago
1789

Politics and government
Alexander Hamilton was appointed the first United States Secretary of the Treasury.

180 years ago
1829

Born on this date
Thomas Hill. U.K.-born U.S. artist. Mr. Hill moved to Massachusetts with his family at the age of 15, and moved to California in 1856. He was known for his paintings of landscapes, especially of the western United States. Mr. Hill died on June 30, 1908 at the age of 78.

War
General Isidro Barradas, leader of an expeditionary force sent by Spain to retake Mexico, signed the Capitulation of Pueblo Viejo in Tampico with Mexican Generals Santa Anna and Manuel Mier y Terán, completing the consummation of the Mexican War of Independence.

150 years ago
1859

Born on this date
Vjenceslav Novak. Croatian writer. Mr. Novak was a realist writer of novels, novellas, poetry, dramatic works, reviews, and musical arrangements. He died on September 20, 1905, nine days after his 46th birthday.

130 years ago
1879

Baseball
The Syracuse Stars, in their first year in the National League, folded as a result of poor attendance. The Stars were in 7th place with a record of 22-48, and Syracuse fans, used to paying lower prices to see their team when the Stars were in the International Association in 1877 and 1878, refused to pay the National League’s required admission price of 50c to watch a losing team.

110 years ago
1899

Born on this date
Philipp Bouhler. German SS officer. SS-Obergruppenführe Bouhler was responsible for the Nazi Aktion T4 euthanasia program that killed more than 70,000 handicapped adults and children in the Nazi regime. He and his wife Helene were arrested by American troops at Schloss Fischhorn in Bruck near Zell-am-See on May 10, 1945, and both committed suicide. Helen Bouhler jumped from a window at Schloss Fischhorn, and Philipp Bouhler, 45, used a cyanide capsule while in the U.S. internment camp at Zell-am-See.

90 years ago
1919

War
The United States Marine Corps invaded Honduras.

Baseball
St. Louis Cardinals’ pitcher Ferdie Schupp hit his only major league home run, a game-ending blow off Leon Cadore in the bottom of the 9th inning, giving the Cardinals a 4-3 win over the Brooklyn Robins at Robison Field in St. Louis. Mr. Schupp improved his 1919 record to 4-7, while Mr. Cadore fell to 13-10.

Herb Pennock (15-7) and Allen Russell (13-7) pitched the respective shutouts as the Boston Red Sox swept a doubleheader from the St. Louis Browns 4-0 and 6-0 at Fenway Park in Boston. Joe Schepner made his major league debut with the Browns in the first game, striking out as a pinch hitter in the 9th inning. Rolla Mapel (0-3) started on the mound for St. Louis in the second game and allowed 3 hits and 6 runs--4 earned--with 6 bases on balls and no strikeouts in 2 innings in his fourth and last major league game.

60 years ago
1949

Died on this date
Henri Rabaud, 73. French composer and conductor. Mr. Rabaud directed the Paris Opéra (1914-1918); Boston Symphony Orchestra (1918-1919); and Paris Conservatoire (1922-1941). His compositions included two symphonies, operas, cantatas, incidental music, film scores, tone poems, and chamber music.

Literature
The New York Herald Tribune listed Father of the Bride by Edward Streeter and Cheaper by the Dozen by Elizabeth Carey as the best-selling fiction and non-fiction books, respectively.

Politics and government
Eslanda Robeson, wife of American singer and actor Paul Robeson, told the concluding session of the Continental Congress for Peace in Mexico City that the recent violence directed toward her husband's audience in Peekskill, New York typified American discrimination against "Negroes, Jews, and labour unions."

Labour
The Inter-American Confederation of Labor concluded a five-day conference in Havana after passing resolutions urging member states to introduce land reform programs, and supporting formation of an anti-Communist world labour organization.

Baseball
In what must have been one of the most painful games to watch in major league history, Washington Nationals pitchers issued 17 bases on balls, including 11 in the 3rd inning, in a 20-5 loss to the New York Yankees in the first game of a doubleheader before 41,800 fans at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees scored 12 runs in the 3rd inning, and four different Yankees each drew 2 walks in that inning. Bobby Brown batted 4 for 5 with 2 doubles, 4 runs, and 5 runs batted in to lead the New York attack, while Allie Reynolds was the winning pitcher, improving his 1949 record to 16-4. The Yankees won the second game 2-1 in a game called after 5½ innings because of darkness. Fred Sanford (5-3) was the winner in the second game, with relief help from Joe Page; Sid Hudson (7-16) took the loss.

Sam Chapman hit a home run in each game for the Philadelphia Athletics as they swept a doubleheader from the Boston Red Sox 6-4 and 4-0 before 24,452 fans at Shibe Park in Philadelphia, dropping the second-place Red Sox 3 games behind the American League-leading Yankees. Joe Coleman (13-12) and Carl Scheib (9-11) were the respective winning pitchers.

The Cleveland Indians dropped into 4th place in the American League, 6 games behind the Yankees, when they lost 5-4 to the St. Louis Browns before 5,729 fans at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.

Bob Swift singled home Hoot Evers with 1 out in the top of the 9th inning for the game's only run as the Detroit Tigers edged the Chicago White Sox 1-0 before 5,871 fans at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Virgil Trucks (17-10) pitched a 3-hitter to outduel Bill Wight (12-13), who allowed 8 hits.

The St. Louis Cardinals moved 1½ games ahead of the Brooklyn Dodgers in the National League race with a doubleheader sweep of the Cincinnati Reds by scores of 7-5 and 7-4 before 25,270 fans at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Stan Musial hit 3 home runs for the Cardinals in the twinbill, and Gerry Staley (9-9) and Howie Pollet (19-8) were the respective winning pitchers. Bill Howerton replaced Enos Slaughter in left field for the Cardinals in the bottom of the 1st inning of the second game, batting 0 for 3 and making 5 putouts in his first major league game.

The Philadelphia Phillies swept a doubleheader from the Boston Braves 3-1 and 6-3 before 10,801 fans at Braves Field. Ken Heintzelman (17-7) and Russ Meyer (13-8) were the respective winning pitchers, with Bill Voiselle (6-7) and Vern Bickford (14-10) the respective losers.

50 years ago
1959

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): Only Sixteen--Craig Douglas

Died on this date
Ernie Burnett, 74. U.S. songwriter. Mr. Burnett was known for writing the song My Melancholy Baby, reportedly first performed in public by actor William Frawley in 1912. He was wounded in World War I and lost his memory and dog tags; while in hospital, a pianist played popular songs, and when he played My Melancholy Baby, Mr. Burnett recognized it and regained his memory.

William C. Stadie, 73. U.S. physician. Dr. Stadie was a diabetes specialist who, during the 1918 influenza epidemic, invented oxygen therapy for treatment of cyanosis, a condition resulting from pneumonia.

Paul Douglas, 52. U.S. actor. Mr. Douglas was a beefy character actor who appeared in such movies as Angels in the Outfield (1951); Clash By Night (1952); and The Solid Gold Cadillac (1956). He was signed to star in an episode of The Twilight Zone titled The Mighty Casey, but he seemed constantly out of breath, and turned in a poor performance. It didn't occur to anyone that Mr. Douglas was actually beginning to have a heart attack until he died two days after the completion of filming. Rod Serling later reshot the episode with Jack Warden taking Mr. Douglas's role. Mr. Douglas was also supposed to play Mr. Sheldrake in Billy Wilder's film The Apartment (1960), but he died before filming began, and Fred MacMurray played the part.

Diplomacy
Communist Chinese Premier Chou En-lai reiterated his willingness to maintain the traditional Indian-Tibetan frontier and to settle current Sino-Indian differences through negotiation.

Defense
The French Community Executive Council endorsed French plans to proceed with the production and testing of an atomic bomb.

Politics and government
Four days after the death of Maurice Duplessis, Paul Sauvé was sworn in as Premier of Quebec. He retained his position as Minister of Youth and Social Welfare, and his cabinet included Joseph-Damase Bégin (Minister of Colonization); Johnny S. Bourque (Minister of Finance); Antonio Barrette (Minister of Labor); and Daniel Johnson (Minister of Hydraulic Resources).

A U.S. Senate Judiciary subcommittee approved a proposed constitutional amendment giving residents of the District of Columbia the right to vote in presidential elections.

Literature
Soviet novelist Boris Pasternak appeared in public for the first time since the controversy over his designation for the 1958 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Economics and finance
Both houses of the United States Congress passed a compromise bill authorizing the government to continue the overseas food surplus disposal program.

Labour
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ezra Taft Benson rejected Labor Secretary James Mitchell's proposal for enactment of federal standards on migrant worker conditions.

Baseball
20-year-olds Jack Fisher and Jerry Walker of the Baltimore Orioles pitched shutouts over the Chicago White Sox, 3-0 and 1-0 respectively, before 22,305 fans at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Mr. Walker went 16 innings in the second game and batted 2 for 6 before Brooks Robinson singled home Al Pilarcik with the winning run.

Ernie Banks led off the bottom of the 9th inning with a single and scored on a wild pitch by Marshall Bridges with none out to give the Chicago Cubs a 2-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals before 1,662 fans at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Bob Anderson pitched a 3-hit complete game victory to improve his 1959 record to 12-10.

Lee Maye hit a 3-run home run and added a triple, while Joe Adcock drove in 3 runs with a pair of doubles to help the Milwaukee Braves beat the Cincinnati Reds 10-2 before 25,817 fans at County Stadium in Milwaukee. Joey Jay (5-10) pitched a 4-hit complete game victory.

Jim Gilliam tripled home Maury Wills with the tying run and scored the winning run on a single by Charlie Neal as the the Los Angeles Dodgers scored 2 runs in the bottom of the 9th inning to edge the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-4 in the first game of a doubleheader before 48,256 fans at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, ending Elroy Face’s 22-decision winning streak and dropping his 1959 record to 17-1. Chuck Churn was the winning pitcher, improving to 2-0. Larry Sherry (5-2) pitched a 6-hitter for the Dodgers as they won the second game 4-0 to complete the sweep. The results moved the Dodgers to within ½ game of the National League-leading San Francisco Giants, and ½ game ahead of the Milwaukee Braves.

Joe Koppe led off the 7th inning with a single and scored the only run of the game on a 2-out single for Harry Anderson as the Philadelphia Phillies edged the San Francisco Giants 1-0 before 22,222 fans at Seals Stadium in San Francisco Robin Roberts (14-13) pitched a 3-hitter to outduel Mike McCormick (11-14), who allowed 4 hits in 8 innings.

International League
Semi-Finals
Buffalo 2 @ Richmond 5 (Richmond led best-of-seven series 3-0)
Havana 10 @ Columbus 3 (Havana led best-of-seven series 3-0)

American Association
Semi-Finals
Fort Worth 2 @ Louisville 0 (Fort Worth led best-of-seven series 1-0)
Minneapolis 3 @ Omaha 1 (Minneapolis led best-of-seven series 1-0)

40 years ago
1969

On the radio
The Epic Casebook/Inspector Carr Investigates, on Springbok Radio
Tonight’s episode: Antithesis of Life

War
Egyptian President Gamal Nasser sent planes to attack Israeli military installations, sweeping the length of the Suez Canal and deep into the Sinai desert. Met by Israeli jets, the warplanes engaged in the fiercest air battle since the Six-Day War in 1967.

North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces resumed fighting after the period of mourning for North Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh, but after some raids, U.S. B-52 bombers remained on the ground for 36 hours on the orders of U.S. President Richard Nixon, as an indication of American willingness to de-escalate the war.

World events
A new Rhodesian constitution was published, which severed all ties with Great Britain and guaranteed white minority rule.

An official commission of inquiry into civil strife in Northern Ireland reported that the ruling Unionist party had gerrymandered electoral districts, "manipulated" public housing allocations, and showed hiring partiality to Protestants.

Diplomacy
Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin and Chinese Premier Chou En-lai met for talks at the Peking airport in the first meeting between leaders of the two countries since February 1965. The meeting was reported to be "useful for both sides."

Protest
The United States Army ordered post commanders not to interfere with underground newspapers, antiwar coffee houses, and servicemen’s unions, unless the institutions violated existing army or federal laws.

Abominations
The 200-member board of the National Council of Churches voted to commit $500,000 for Negro economic development and agreed to draft plans to put "tens of millions" more into the effort. Far from being "social justice," this was really just a shakedown.

Economics and finance
The prices of General Motors cars were raised by 3.9%--an average of $125 per car--in the sharpest increase in more than 10 years. GM called the boost "modest" in the face of inflation, and said it did not even inform federal officials of its intended actions.

Football
NFL
Pre-season
Pittsburgh 17 New York (0-5) 13 @ Montreal

Dick Shiner completed touchdown passes to Earl Gros in the 3rd quarter and John Hilton in the 4th quarter to help the Steelers defeat the Giants before 12,724 fans in the last of two National Football League pre-season games at Jarry Park. Fran Tarkenton, who played the entire game at quarterback for the Giants, handed off to John Fuqua for a 4-yard rush for the only New York touchdown with 34 seconds remaining in the 3rd quarter. Mr. Tarkenton drove the Giants deep into the Pittsburgh end late in the game, but running back Joe Morrison fumbled on the 5-yard line, and Jon Henderson recovered for Pittsburgh. Gene Mingo converted both Pittsburgh touchdowns and concluded the scoring with a 25-yard field goal with 2:25 remaining in the game. Pete Gogolak converted the New York touchdown and added 2 field goals. The loss marked the end of the line for New York head coach Allie Sherman, who had coached the team since 1961 and had led them to Eastern Conference championships in his first three seasons, but had been unable to achieve similar success since; he was fired the next day.

30 years ago
1979

Defense
U.S. President Jimmy Carter asked Congress for an increased military budget in fiscal 1980 that would maintain a spending growth of 3% after inflation. In doing so, he rejected the requests of some senators for increases in military spending of up to 5% in order to counter a Soviet military budget that the Central Intelligence Agency estimated as being 43% greater than that of the United States in 1978. The new White House request was for $130.6 billion in military spending for the coming fiscal year.

25 years ago
1984

Religion
Pope John Paul II spent the day in Montreal as he continued his Canadian tour.

Diplomacy
U.S. President Ronald Reagan said that he had invited Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko to the White House in an effort to ease U.S.-U.S.S.R. tensions. Democratic party presidential candidate Walter Mondale said he was pleased that the meeting would take place, but added that it was "pathetic" that it was happening for the first time in the middle of the president’s re-election campaign.

20 years ago
1989

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Australian Music Report): Right Here Waiting--Richard Marx

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Lambada--Kaoma (4th week at #1)

Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 Right Here Waiting--Richard Marx (3rd week at #1)
2 Cold Hearted--Paula Abdul
3 Don't Wanna Lose You--Gloria Estefan
4 The End of the Innocence--Don Henley
5 Hangin' Tough--New Kids on the Block
6 So Alive--Love and Rockets
7 If I Could Turn Back Time--Cher
8 On Our Own--Bobby Brown
9 Don't Look Back--Fine Young Cannibals
10 Cherish--Madonna

Singles entering the chart were Another Man's Gun by Ray Lyell & the Storm (#74); Dr. Feelgood by Motley Crue (#81); Sold Me Down the River by the Alarm (#85); When I Looked at Him by Expose (#87); It's No Crime by Babyface (#88); Blow at High Dough by the Tragically Hip (#90); Hold Me in Your Arms by Rick Astley (#92); and Whatcha Do to My Body by Lee Aaron (#94).

At the movies
American Boyfriends, starring Margaret Langrick and John Wildman, opened in theatres. It was the sequel to My American Cousin (1985).

World events
Hungary announced that the East German refugees who had been housed in temporary camps were free to leave for West Germany.

Scandal
The judicial inquiry began in St. John's, Newfoundland into alleged sexual abuse of boys by authorities at Mount Cashel orphanage.

10 years ago
1999

Died on this date
David Karp, 77. U.S. author. Mr. Karp wrote almost a dozen novels in the 1950s and '60s, and more than 40 episodes of television programs and made-for-television movies from 1952-1983, including 11 episodes of The Defenders (1962-1965). He died of emphysema.

Gonzalo "Gonchi" Rodriguez Bongoll, 28. Uruguayan auto racing driver. Mr. Rodriguez won two Formula 3000 races in 1998, and drove in the CART circuit with Penske Racing in 1999. His first race was the Detroit Grand Prix on August 8, where he earned a point for finishing 12th. During qualifying for his next event at Laguna Seca Raceway in California, Mr. Rodriguez was in 5th place when his car apparently experienced a stuck throttle, overshot its braking point, leaving the track and hitting a concrete barrier (see video). Mr. Rodriguez died instantly from a basilar skull fracture.

Diplomacy
U.S. President Bill Clinton and Chinese President Jiang Zemin met privately during the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference in Auckland, New Zealand. They concluded that recent stresses between their countries were behind them, and agreed to work toward Chinese membership in the World Trade Organization. Mr. Clinton urged China not to use force against Taiwan, which had said in July that it would deal with the mainland on a state-to-state basis.

Tennis
Serena Williams defeated Martina Hingis 6-3 and 7-6 to win the U.S. Open women’s final.



Football
CFL
Saskatchewan (3-7) 3 @ Toronto (5-5) 28

Baseball
The 11,022 fans who showed up for an 11:05 A.M. start at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis saw Eric Milton of the Twins pitch a no-hitter against the Anaheim Angels, striking out 13 and walking just 2 in a 7-0 win. The early starting time was to accommodate a University of Minnesota football game later in the day.

Nomar Garciaparra hit 2 of the Boston Red Sox' 5 home runs, while the New York Yankees hit 2 as the Red Sox edged the Yankees 11-10 before 55,422 fans at Yankee Stadium.

Jose Lima allowed 7 hits and 3 runs--2 earned--in 7 1/3 innings to improve his 1999 record to 20-7 as he helped the Houston Astros defeat the Chicago Cubs 5-3 before 52,010 fans at the Astrodome. 10 years later, Mr. Lima was pitching for the Edmonton Capitals in the Golden Baseball League.