February 2, 2012

140 years ago
1872

Born on this date
Dale Gear. U.S. baseball player. Mr. Gear was a first baseman, outfielder, and pitcher with the Cleveland Spiders (1896-1897) and Washington Senators (1901), batting .239 with no home runs and 25 runs batted in in 69 games, compiling a pitching record of 4-13 with an earned run average in 27 games. He hit at least 17 homers in at least 1,452 games in 17 seasons in the minor leagues (1896-1914), compiling a pitching record of 55-37 in 5 seasons in the minors (1897-1898, 1902-1904). Mr. Gear was a lawyer, and remained in the minor leagues as an owner, executive, and manager through 1935. Mr. Gear died on September 23, 1951 at the age of 79.

130 years ago
1882

Born on this date
Abdullah I. Emir of Transjordan, 1921-1946; King of Jordan, 1946-1951. An architect of the great Arab revolt with Lawrence of Arabia against Ottoman rule during World War I, Abdullah I became Emir of Transjordan after the war and King of Jordan when the country achieved independence from the U.K. in 1946. He was assassinated on July 20, 1951 at the age of 69 by 21-year-old Palestinian terrorist Mustafa Ashu while visiting the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem with his grandson Prince Hussein for Friday prayers.

125 years ago
1887

Americana
The first gathering of people at Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania to see the groundhog's shadow occurred.

120 years ago
1892

Crime
Six days after being convicted in New York of murdering his wife with poison, Carlyle W. Harris was sentenced to death.

110 years ago
1902

Born on this date
John Tonkin. Australian politician. "Honest John," a member of the Labour Party, represented North-East Fremantle (1933-1950) and Melville (1950-1977) for a record total of 44 years in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly. He held several cabinet posts, and was elected party leader in 1967, becoming Leader of the Opposition. Mr. Tonkin led Labour to electoral victory in 1971, and served as Premier of Western Australia until 1974, when Labour lost power in the state election. Mr. Tonkin resigned as W.A. Labour Party leader in 1976, and retired from politics in 1977. He died on October 20, 1995 at the age of 93.

80 years ago
1922

Literature
James Joyce's "novel" Ulysses was published. Canadian reader George Milner observed that the names mentioned in the book are names of bars in Dublin, and as far as he could tell, the book was just a story about a drunk who couldn't find his way home.

60 years ago
1952

Hit parade
#1 singles in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Cry--Johnnie Ray and the Four Lads (Best Seller--5th week at #1, Disc Jockey--4th week at #1, Juke Box--2nd week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Cry--Johnnie Ray and the Four Lads
2 Slow Poke--Pee Wee King and his Golden West Cowboys
--Arthur Godfrey
--Helen O'Connell
3 Tell Me Why--The Four Aces
--Eddie Fisher
4 (It's No) Sin--The Four Aces
--Eddy Howard
5 The Little White Cloud that Cried--Johnnie Ray and the Four Lads
6 Charmaine--Mantovani and his Orchestra
7 Shrimp Boats--Jo Stafford
8 Any Time--Eddie Fisher
9 Down Yonder--Del Wood
--Joe "Fingers" Carr
--Champ Butler
10 Undecided--The Ames Brothers and Les Brown and his Band of Renown

Singles entering the chart were Please, Mr. Sun (#21)/Here am I--Broken Hearted (#35)by Johnnie Ray; I Wanna Love You by the Ames Brothers (#25); A Weaver of Dreams, with versions by Nat "King" Cole and Billy Eckstine (#29); Alabama Jubilee by Red Foley (#33); and Retreat (Cries My Heart) by Patti Page (#42).

50 years ago
1962

On television tonight
The Twilight Zone, on CBS
Tonight's episode: Showdown with Rance McGrew, starring Larry Blyden, Arch Johnson, and Robert Cornthwaite

Track and field
U.S. Marine corporal John Uelses, using a new fiberglass pole, vaulted 16 feet, 1/4 inch at the Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden in New York, becoming the first pole vaulter to clear 16 feet.

40 years ago
1972

Protest
The British embassy in Dublin was destroyed by demonstrators protesting the fatal shooting of 13 protesters in Londonderry, Northern Ireland on January 30.

30 years ago
1982

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden: Cambodia--Kim Wilde (2nd week at #1)

Space
Scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California announced that they had discovered four and possibly six more small moons of Saturn when photographs taken by the Voyager 2 probe were analyzed. The discovery brought the total number of moons around Saturn to 21 or 23. Three of the four definite discoveries were found to be sharing orbits with the previously known satellites Mimas, Dione, and Tethys. The other two objects may have been moons, but photos were not clear enough to give positive identification. If they were moons, it meant that Tethys shared its orbit with four other moons. The four newly-discovered moons ranged in diameter from 6-12 miles, as compared with the moons of Saturn that could be seen by Earth’s telescopes, whose diameters ranged from 100 miles to the size of Titan, which is larger than the planet Mercury.

25 years ago
1987

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Australian Music Report): Funkytown--Pseudo Echo (7th week at #1)

Terrorism
Church of England envoy Terry Waite was kidnapped in Beirut by members of the group Islamic Jihad.

Economics and finance
The United States Commerce Department reported that the index of leading economic indicators had risen 2.1% in December 1986.

20 years ago
1992

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K.: Goodnight Girl--Wet Wet Wet (3rd week at #1)