April 17, 2010

220 years ago
1790

Died on this date
Benjamin Franklin, 84. U.S. patriot, diplomat, inventor, printer, journalist. A signer of the Declaration of Independence, Mr. Franklin invented the lightning rod; bifocals; the Franklin stove; a carriage odometer; and the glass harmonica. He formed the first lending library in America and the first fire department in Pennsylvania, and was Postmaster General under the Continental Congress from 1775-1776. As a diplomat, he secured the alliance with France that helped to ensure the success of the American revolution. Mr. Franklin was said to have flown a kite in a thunderstorm in order to prove that lightning was electricity--and as the old joke says, thereby proved the existence of wind.

190 years ago
1820

Born on this date
Alexander Cartwright. U.S. firefighter and baseball pioneer. Mr. Cartwright, a native of New York City, worked as a clerk on Wall Street while also volunteering as a firefighter. He eventually moved to Honolulu, serving as the city's fire chief from 1850-1863. Mr. Cartwright led the establishment of the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club in 1842. Rules for the modern game of baseball were drawn up in 1845; Mr. Cartwright has been credited as the author, but that is in dispute today. Mr. Cartwright died on July 12, 1892 at the age of 72; his status as the alleged creator of baseball led to him being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1938.

170 years ago
1840

Died on this date
Hannah Webster Foster, 80 or 81. U.S.-born writer. Mrs. Foster wrote journalism and non-fiction, but was best known for her novel The Coquette; or, The History of Eliza Wharton (1797),a fictionalized account of the true story of Elizabeth Whitman, who had died shortly after giving birth to a stillborn, illegitimate child at an inn in Danvers, Massachusetts in 1788. Mrs. Foster was married to Rev. John Foster; after his death in 1829, she moved to Montreal to be with her daughters.

140 years ago
1870

Born on this date
Ray Stannard Baker. U.S. writer. Mr. Baker wrote fiction (under the name David Grayson), but was best known for journalistic writing. He became close friends with U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, and served as Mr. Wilson's press secretary during the Versailles peace conference in 1919. Mr. Baker published 15 books about Mr. Wilson and international relations, and died on July 12, 1946 at the age of 76.

120 years ago
1890

Born on this date
Art Acord. U.S. cowboy and actor. Mr. Acord won the World Steer Wrestling (Bulldogging) Championship at the Pendleton Round-Up in 1912 and 1916, and appeared as an actor and stuntman in more than 100 movies, mostly Westerns. His films included The Squaw Man (1914) and Cleopatra (1917). Heavy drinking led to a decline in Mr. Acord's career, and he committed suicide in Chihuahua, Mexico by taking poison on January 4, 1931 at the age of 40.

Baseball
The Players League--a major league intended to compete with the National League and American Association--was launched‚ with each club run by an 8-man board of 4 players and 4 backers. Gate receipts will be divided evenly between the home and visiting teams. The first $10‚000 profit was to go to the backers‚ the next $10‚000 was to be shared by all the players‚ and anything over that was to be divided between clubs and players.

100 years ago
1910

Born on this date
Evangelos Averoff-Tositsas. Greek politician and historian. Mr. Averoff was a major public figure in Greece for almost 50 years. He led resistance against Axis occupation of Greece during World War II, and against the military junta that ruled Greece from 1967-1974. Mr. Averoff was first elected to Parliament in 1946, and held several cabinet posts, including Foreign Minister (1956-1963) and Defense Minister (1974-1981). He was involved with the New Democracy movement from 1974-1984, and was the party's president from 1981-1984. Mr. Averoff wrote more than a dozen books dealing with Greek historical and political issues. In accord with the wishes of Baron Michael Tositsas, he added Tositas to his own surname in later years. Mr. Averoff-Tositsas died on January 2, 1990 at the age of 79. In her novel A Man (1979), Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci alleged, among other things, that Mr. Averoff had been an Axis collaborator rather than a resistance leader, and that he had been a link between the Greek military junta and the subsequent democratic government led by Konstantinos Karamanlis.

Ivan Goff. Australian-born U.S. screenwriter. Mr. Goff moved to the United States in 1930 and worked as a journalist in Hollywood before beginning his career as a screenwriter. He and partner Ben Roberts collaborated on screenplays from the late 1940s through the early '80s, including White Heat (1949); Man of a Thousand Faces (1957); and Portrait in Black (1960). Messrs. Goff and Roberts wrote numerous television pilots and episodes; they created the series The Rogues (1964-1965); My Friend Tony (1969); and Charlie's Angels (1976-1981). Mr. Goff died of Alzheimer's disease on September 23, 1999 at the age of 89.

70 years ago
1940

War
From their newly acquired bases in Norway, German planes raided Scapa Flow.

Diplomacy
U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull issued a strong U.S. reply to the Japanese warning of two days earlier about the Netherlands East Indies. Mr. Hull said that any intervention in the affairs of the NEI "would be prejudicial to the cause of stability, peace and security...in the entire Pacific area."

Politics and government
The Japanese embassy in Shanghai revealed a proposal designed to provide Japan with control of the International Settlement Council.

Journalism
Australian Governor General Lord Gowrie announced that Communist publications would be censored, and those opposing the war effort would be prosecuted.

Economics and finance
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission President William M. Martin said that the broad scope of government power hindered government-industry cooperation.

60 years ago
1950

On the radio
Murder By Experts, hosted and narrated by Bret Halliday, on MBS
Tonight's episode: Two Can Die as Cheaply as One

On television tonight
Lights Out, on NBC
Tonight's episode: A Toast to Sergeant Farnsworth, starring Ross Martin and Dan Morgan

Diplomacy
The U.S.S.R. informed United Nations Secretary-General Trygve Lie that it no longer supported the UN plan for internationalization of Jerusalem because the scheme did not satisfy either Jewish or Arab residents of the city.

Philippine President Elpidio Quirino calls for a conference of non-Communist Southeast Asian states to negotiate a political and economic alliance.

U.S. President Harry Truman welcomed John Joseph Hearne as Ireland's first Ambassador to the United States.

Defense
The Brussels Treaty Council agreed that its member states (France, United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg) now lacked economic resources to meet the requirements of the newly-elected Atlantic defense plan.

U.S. Army Chemical Corps chief General Anthony McAuliffe reported the development of "nerve gases" and other bloodless weapons to destroy an enemy's will to resist and thus preserve cities and industrial areas intact.

Politics and government
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-2 to uphold Georgia's unit electoral system, which favoured rural areas over cities in Democratic Party primary elections.

Law
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia again upheld the government's loyalty board procedures as constitutional, rejecting an appeal by 26 Post Office employees fired on disloyalty charges.

Health
Dr. Edward J. O'Brien, president of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery, declared that 50,000 Americans per year died of tuberculosis although the disease could be stamped out by vaccination.

Economics and finance
The U.S. Senate approved $1.84 billion in authorizations for navigation and flood-control projects in U.S. rivers and harbours.

Business
A U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary subcommittee under Emanuel Celler (Democrat--New York) began an investigation of alleged monopolistic practices in the steel industry.

50 years ago
1960

On television tonight
Alfred Hitchcock Presents, on CBS
Tonight's episode: The Cuckoo Clock, starring Beatrice Straight and Fay Spain

Died on this date
Ricardo Torres, 69. Cuban baseball player. Mr. Torres was a catcher and first baseman in the Cuban League--mainly with Habana--and other minor leagues from 1914-1927. He played in the major leagues with the Washington Nationals (1920-1922), batting .297 with no home runs and 3 runs batted in in 22 games. Mr. Torres died the day after his 69th birthday.

Eddie Cochran, 21. U.S. musician. Mr. Cochran was a rockabilly artist who played several instruments, co-wrote songs, and pioneered the use of multitrack recording and overdubs. He was known for hit singles such as Sittin' in the Balcony (1956); Summertime Blues (1958); C'mon Everybody (1958); and Three Steps to Heaven (1960). He died of a fractured skull and blunt force brain trauma after being thrown from the car in which he, his fiancee, Sharon Sheeley, fellow musician Gene Vincent, and two others were travelling in on the way to London from Bristol, where Messrs. Cochran and Vincent had concluded a three-month concert tour of England.

Disasters
Russwood Park, home of the Memphis Chicks of minor league baseball's Southern Association, burned to the ground, four hours after the end of an spring training game between the Cleveland Indians and Chicago White Sox. The ballpark, built in 1896, was mainly made out of wood, and held as many as 10,000 people. The fire was regarded as one of the worst in the city's history, and cracked windows at Baptist Hospital across the street, forcing evacuation of patients from that hospital and 60 newborns and their mothers from John Gaston Hospital next door. The fire took place on Easter Sunday, and was referred to as an Easter "miracle," because there were no casualties. The fire was believed to have started in a trash can near the stands.

Baseball
Cleveland Indians’ general manager Frank "Trader" Lane traded right fielder Rocky Colavito, who had tied for the American League lead in home runs in 1959 with 42, to the Detroit Tigers for right fielder Harvey Kuenn, who had led the AL in 1959 with a .353 batting average. Mr. Colavito had been the Indians’ most popular player, and although the Indians reacquired him five years later, many say that the team was never the same after the 1960 trade.

The Cleveland Indians edged the Chicago White Sox 2-1 in a spring training game before a crowd estimated at 7,000-8,000 at Russwood Park in Memphis. Rocky Colavito gave the Indians a 1-0 lead with a solo home run in the 2nd inning; it was his eighth home run of the spring. Later in the game, he reached first base when he hit into a force play at second base. Cleveland manager Joe Gordon removed Mr. Colavito from the game, informing him that he had just been traded. The Tigers were playing the Kansas City Athletics in a spring training game at Henley Field in Lakeland, Florida when Mr. Kuenn was informed of the trade by Detroit manager Jimmy Dykes.

The Milwaukee Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies 8-4 before 6,632 fans at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia, led by Eddie Mathews, who hit a home run, double, and triple. Mr. Mathews’ home run, off Robin Roberts (0-2), was the 300th of his major league career. Bob Buhl (1-0) pitched a 6-hit complete game victory.

The Pittsburgh Pirates swept a doubleheader from the Cincinnati Reds 5-0 and 6-5 before 16,196 fans at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Bob Friend pitched a shutout in the opener, while the Pirates rallied from a 5-0 deficit with 6 runs in the 9th inning to take the second game. Hal Smith hit a 3-run home run as a pinch hitter, and Bob Skinner won the game with a 2-run homer. Joe Gibbon, who had entered the game in a mop-up role with the Pirates behind 5-0 in the 8th, pitched 2 scoreless innings in his major league debut, and was the winning pitcher.

40 years ago
1970

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Let it Be--The Beatles

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): All Kinds of Everything--Dana (5th week at #1)

South Africa's Top 10 (Springbok Radio)
1 Love is a Beautiful Song--Dave Mills (3rd week at #1)
2 Hitchin' a Ride--Vanity Fare
3 Ma Belle Amie--Tee Set
4 Bridge Over Troubled Water--Simon & Garfunkel
5 Arizona--Mark Lindsay
6 Carol Ok--Chris Andrews
7 Wand'rin' Star--Lee Marvin
8 Travelin' Band--Creedence Clearwater Revival
9 Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)--Edison Lighthouse
10 Let's Work Together--Canned Heat

Singles entering the chart were My Baby Loves Lovin' by White Plains (#19); and Honey Come Back by Glen Campbell (#20).

Vancouver's Top 10 (CKLG)
1 Let it Be--The Beatles (3rd week at #1)
2 American Woman/No Sugar Tonight--The Guess Who
3 Something's Burning--Kenny Rogers and the First Edition
4 Little Green Bag--George Baker Selection
5 Shilo--Neil Diamond
6 Easy Come, Easy Go--Bobby Sherman
7 Come and Get It--Badfinger
8 ABC--The Jackson 5
9 Love or Let Me Be Lonely--The Friends of Distinction
10 Up the Ladder to the Roof--The Supremes

Singles entering the chart were Cecilia by Simon & Garfunkel (#26); We Will Find Love by Ann Attenborough (#29); and Viva Tirado by El Chicano (#30).

Edmonton's Top 10 (CJCA)
1 Let it Be--The Beatles (5th week at #1)
2 Spirit in the Sky--Norman Greenbaum
3 House of the Rising Sun--Frijid Pink
4 Something's Burning--Kenny Rogers and the First Edition
5 Shilo--Neil Diamond
6 No Sugar Tonight--The Guess Who
7 Bridge Over Troubled Water--Simon & Garfunkel
8 American Woman--The Guess Who
9 Little Green Bag--George Baker Selection
10 Give Me Just a Little More Time--The Chairmen of the Board

Died on this date
Dick Brown, 35. U.S. baseball player. Mr. Brown was a catcher with the Cleveland Indians (1957-1959); Chicago White Sox (1960); Detroit Tigers (1961-1962); and Baltimore Orioles (1963-1965), batting .244 with 62 home runs and 223 runs batted in in 636 games. He was expected to be the Orioles' regular catcher in 1966, but a brain tumour was discovered in spring training; it was surgically removed, but subsequent surgery revealed another tumour, which was inoperable, ending his career. Mr. Brown worked as a scout with the Orioles until his death. His brother Larry was an infielder who played 12 years in the major leagues.

Music
The album McCartney by Paul McCartney was released on Apple Records.

Space
The Apollo 13 crew of Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, 621 miles south of Pago Pago (see video). The spacecraft splashed down just five seconds behind schedule, and just four miles from the recovery ship Iwo Jima. In Houston, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration announced the creation of a special review board to investigate the "circumstances and causes" of the April 13 explosion that crippled the mission.



Defense
The Canadian Department of National Defence announced that it would make Yellowknife the permanent headquarters for the Canadian military in northern Canada.

Economics and finance
The Québec Savings Bank, founded in the 1840s as La Banque Populaire, was granted full chartered bank status.

Boxing
George Foreman (18-0) scored a technical knockout of James J. Woody (14-6-1) at 37 seconds of the 3rd round of a heavyweight bout at the Felt Forum in New York City.



CHL
Adams Cup
Finals
Iowa 6 @ Omaha 7 (OT) (Omaha led best-of-seven series 3-1)

Kevin Morrison scored at 7:30 of the 1st overtime period to give the Knights their win over the Stars. Mike Chernoff scored 3 goals for Iowa.

Baseball
The Oakland Athletics sold shortstop Ray Oyler to the California Angels. Mr. Oyler batted .165 with 7 home runs and 22 runs batted in in 106 games with the Seattle Pilots in 1969, and was traded to the Athletics after the season.

Relief pitcher Carroll Sembera issued consecutive bases on balls to Billy Williams and Ron Santo with 2 out in the bottom of the 9th inning, and the latter drove home pinch runner Cleo James with the winning run to cap a 2-run rally as the Chicago Cubs beat the Montreal Expos 8-7 before 6,855 fans at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The Cubs led 4-0 after 1 inning and 6-0 after 2 innings, but the Expos came back, and scored 3 in the top of the 9th to take a 7-6 lead.

The Cincinnati Reds hit 5 home runs in defeating the San Francisco Giants 8-5 before 22,094 fans at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Johnny Bench, Lee May, and Pete Rose hit the Reds’ first 3 home runs, Hal McRae homered as a pinch hitter in the 9th to tie the game, and Tony Perez hit a 3-run home run later in the inning to win the game.

30 years ago
1980

Hit parade
#1 single in Ireland (Hot Press): Take that Look Off Your Face--Marti Webb (4th week at #1)

Died on this date
Ed Miller, 91. U.S. baseball player. Mr. Miller was a first baseman with the St. Louis Browns (1912, 1914) and Cleveland Indians (1918), batting .195 with no home runs and 12 runs batted in in 86 games. He played at least 1,829 games in 18 seasons in the minor leagues from 1909-1927.

Hooks Iott, 60. U.S. baseball pitcher. Clarence Eugene Iott played with the St. Louis Browns (1941, 1947) and Detroit Tigers (1947), compiling a record of 3-9 with an earned run average of 7.05 in 26 games. He spent 16 seasons in the minor leagues from 1938-1957, posting a record of 167-150. Mr. Iott was 22-12 in 1951 and 24-9 in 1952 with the St. Petersburg Saints of the Class B Florida International League. He struck out 25 batters in a 9-inning game with the Paragould Browns of the Class D Northeast Arkansas League in 1939, and struck out 30 in a 16-inning game with the Browns in 1941.

World events
Another plane arrived in Costa Rica carrying 252 Cubans who had crowded into the Peruvian embassy in Havana in an attempt to flee Cuba for asylum elsewhere.

Diplomacy
U.S. President Jimmy Carter announced new sanctions against Iran: a ban on all imports from Iran; a ban on financial transfers to Iran; and a ban on travel to Iran by Americans. He also announced that all U.S. military equipment previously purchased by Iran and subsequently impounded would be made available to U.S. military forces or sold to other countries. A New York Times/CBS News poll reported that only 39% of the American public now supported President Carter’s handling of the situation regarding the hostages at the U.S. embassy in Iran, down from 49% in March and 63% in February.

Politics and government
A New York Times/CBS News poll reported that half of the American public was displeased with having to choose between incumbent Jimmy Carter and former California Governor Ronald Reagan for President, and that Republican party Representative John Anderson was drawing 18-21% of support from the two front-runners. Mr. Reagan had 607 of the 998 delegates needed to clinch the nomination at the Republican National Convention. Mr. Anderson released the 59 delegates that he had won in six presidential primaries, and began to accumulate signatures on petitions, the first step in the process of having his name placed on the ballot in various states as an independent presidential candidate.

Health
The Pennsylvania State Health Department released a study of the psychological effects of the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island nuclear plant which noted a "surprising" persistence of anxiety among a large proportion of the population living near the reactor. The study said that there was a 113% increase in the number of people using sleeping pills, and an 88% increase in the number of those using tranquilizers. The survey also found that nearly 13% of the nearly 37,000 people living within a five-mile radius of Three Mile Island had become anti-nuclear activists.

Economics and finance
U.S. President Jimmy Carter admitted that a "short" recession had probably begun.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Quarter-Finals
Minnesota 4 @ Montreal 1 (Minnesota led best-of-seven series 2-0)
New York Islanders 5 @ Boston 4 (OT) (New York led best-of-seven series 2-0)

Bob Bourne scored the winning goal at 1:24 of the 1st overtime period for the Islanders as they edged the Bruins at Boston Garden.



Baseball
Rick Bosetti’s home run off Lary Sorensen (1-1) with 1 out in the bottom of the 9th inning gave the Toronto Blue Jays a 1-0 win over the Milwaukee Brewers before 11,235 fans at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. Paul Mirabella (1-0) was the winner in the pitching duel, allowing 7 hits; Mr. Sorensen allowed just 4 hits.

Dan Driessen and Ray Knight each hit 2-run home runs for the Cincinnati Reds as they scored all their runs in the 4th inning of a 4-1 win over the Atlanta Braves before 15,742 fans at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, improving their record to 8-0. Frank Pastore (2-0) pitched a 5-hitter, losing his bid for a shutout when Chris Chambliss homered with 1 out in the 9th. Phil Niekro (0-3) took the loss.

20 years ago
1990

On television tonight
The Wonder Years, on ABC
Tonight's episode: The Unnatural

Died on this date
Ralph Abernathy, 64. U.S. clergyman and activist. Rev. Abernathy was a Baptist minister who was a close friend and associate of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Rev. Abernathy succeeded Rev. King as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference after Rev. King's assassination in 1968 and led the SCLC until 1977.

Diplomacy
U.S. President George Bush warned that if the U.S.S.R. imposed an economic embargo on Lithuania, the United States would consider "appropriate responses."

Environment
Canadian Environment Minister Lucien Bouchard released draft rules forcing 90 pulp and paper mills to install secondary waste treatment plants. It was estimated that 50% of all waste was dumped into Canadian waters. The new rules would cost industry $5 billion.

Economics and finance
The United States Labor Department reported that consumer prices had risen 0.5% in March, equalling the increase reported for February.

10 years ago
2000

Defense
The U.S. administration of President Bill Clinton agreed to sell Taiwan a radar system, air-to-ground missiles, and anti-tank missiles.

Politics and government
The ruling Progressive Conservatives, under Premier Pat Binns, won an impressive mandate in the Prince Edward Island provincial election, taking 26 of 27 seats in the Legislative Assembly. The other seat went to the Liberals.

The Liberal Party, led by Pat Duncan, defeated the governing New Democratic Party in the Yukon territorial election. The Liberals won 10 of 17 seats in the Legislative Assembly, an increase of 7 from the most recent election in 1996. The NDP dropped from 11 seats to 6, and Premier Piers McDonald lost his seat in the riding of McIntyre-Takhini. The Yukon Party dropped from 3 seats to 1, and party leader John Ostashek lost his seat in Porter Creek North.

Crime
The 15-year-old Montreal schoolboy known as "Mafiaboy," who had hacked into several popular websites in February, was charged with public mischief and released on bail.

Economics and finance
The value of stocks fell 6.6% in Hong Kong, 7% in Japan, and 11.7% in South Korea. European markets were also declining until U.S. markets opened and showed signs of recovery. Both the Dow Jones Industrial Average (up by 276.74 points) and the Nasdaq (up by 217.87 points) posted record one-day point gains.

The World Bank said that it would spend more money to fight the global threat of AIDS; would accelerate debt relief; and would urge industrialized nations to increase market access for the products of backward nations.

Business
Major league baseball owners voted to approve the $96 million sale of the Kansas City Royals to team chairman David Glass.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Conference Quarter-Finals
Toronto 3 @ Ottawa 4 (Toronto led best-of-seven series 2-1)
Washington 3 @ Pittsburgh 4 (Pittsburgh led best-of-seven series 3-0)
Detroit 2 @ Los Angeles 1 (Detroit led best-of-seven series 3-0)
Colorado 4 @ Phoenix 2 (Colorado led best-of-seven series 3-0)
St. Louis 1 @ San Jose 2 (San Jose led best-of-seven series 2-1)