April 13, 2012

270 years ago
1742

Music
G.F. Handel's oratorio Messiahwas given its first public performance, in Dublin.

250 years ago
1762

Born on this date
Jean-Étienne Championnet. French military officer. General of Division Championnet led a Republican French division in many important battles during the French Revolutionary Wars, and was commander-in-chief of the Army of Rome (1798) and of the Army of Italy (1799). He died of typhus on January 9, 1800 at the age of 37.

90 years ago
1922

Baseball
Dazzy Vance, pitching his first game with the Brooklyn Dodgers and his first game in the major leagues since 1915, came out on the losing end of a 4-3 decision to the New York Giants and winning pitcher Phil Douglas.

80 years ago
1932

On the radio
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring Richard Gordon and Leigh Lovell, on NBC
Tonight's episode: The Adventure of the Three Garridebs

75 years ago
1937

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Finals
New York Rangers 0 @ Detroit 1 (Best-of-five series tied 2-2)

Earl Robertson, playing in place of injured regular Normie Smith, played an outstanding game in goal for the Red Wings, earning the shutout at Olympia Stadium.

60 years ago
1952

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Finals
Montreal 0 @ Detroit 3 (Detroit led best-of-seven series 3-0)

Gordie Howe scored 2 goals and Ted Lindsay scored on a 65-foot shot as the Red Wings blanked the Canadiens at Olympia Stadium.

50 years ago
1962

On television tonight
The Twilight Zone, on CBS
Tonight's episode: Hocus-Pocus and Frisby, starring Andy Devine and Milton Selzer

At the movies
Experiment in Terror, produced and directed by Blake Edwards, and starring Glenn Ford, Lee Remick, Stefanie Powers, and Ross Martin, opened in theatres.



Died on this date
Bill Akers, 57. U.S. baseball player. Mr. Akers was an infielder with the Detroit Tigers (1929-1931) and Boston Braves (1932), batting .261 with 11 home runs and 69 runs batted in in 174 games. He played at least 834 games in 11 seasons in the minor leagues (1924-1934), hitting at least 72 homers. Mr. Akers later served as an Arkansas State Trooper and earned several decorations with the U.S. Army Air Corps in World War II.

Baseball
The New York Mets played their first regular season home game, losing 4-3 to the Pittsburgh Pirates before just 12,447 fans in the first game at the Polo Grounds since 1957. Sherman “Roadblock” Jones (0-1) was the losing pitcher.

Stan Musial set a National League career record with 1,869 runs as his St. Louis Cardinals scored 3 runs in the top of the 13th inning to break a 5-5 tie and defeated the Chicago Cubs 8-5 before 9,750 fans at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

40 years ago
1972

War
North Vietnamese troops began a siege of An Loc, capital of the South Vietnamese province of Binh Loc, near Saigon.

Diplomacy
U.S. President Richard Nixon arrived in Ottawa for three days of talks with Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. Mr. Nixon pledged that the United States “will respect the separate identity” of Canada and its people’s “right to pursue their own way.”

Labour
The major league baseball players’ strike, which had begun March 31, ended. The regular season was to begin two days later, with games missed during the strike not being made up.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Quarter-Finals
New York 3 @ Montreal 2 (New York won best-of-seven series 4-2)
Minnesota 2 @ St. Louis 4 (Best-of-seven series tied 3-3)

Bill Fairbairn scored his 4th and 5th goals of the series and Walt Tkaczuk scored the winning goal 29 seconds into the 3rd period at the Montreral Forum as the Rangers eliminated the defending champion Canadiens from further playoff competition.

Garry Unger scored the winning goal in the 2nd period at St. Louis Arena and Jacques Caron won the goaltending duel over Gump Worsley to force a seventh and deciding game in Minnesota.

30 years ago
1982

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden: Oh Julie--Shakin' Stevens (6th week at #1)

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Division Semi-Finals
Quebec 3 @ Montreal 2 (OT) (Quebec won best-of-five series 3-2)
Los Angeles 7 @ Edmonton 4 (Los Angeles won best-of-five series 3-2)

The Kings, who had finished 54 points behind Edmonton in the regular season standings, easily defeated the Oilers at Northlands Coliseum, prompting Edmonton Journal sports columnist Terry Jones to denounce the losing team as “weak-kneed wimps” in a front-page tirade the next day.



25 years ago
1987

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Australian Music Report): Boom Boom (Let's Go Back to My Room)--Paul Lekakis

Music
This blogger attended an enjoyable concert by Gordon Lightfoot at Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium in Edmonton. I paid $21.50 for my ticket.

Baseball
Marvell Wynne, Tony Gwynn, and John Kruk of the San Diego Padres hit consecutive home runs off Roger Mason to lead off the game, but the San Francisco Giants came back to beat the Padres 13-6.

20 years ago
1992

Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Telepatiaa--J. Karjalainen

Politics and government
Neil Kinnock, who had led Britain’s Labour Party since 1983, announced his forthcoming resignation, four days after the ruling Conservatives had won a fourth consecutive majority government in the U.K.’s general election.

10 years ago
2002

Diplomacy
The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague delimited a 620-mile stretch of border between Ethiopia and Eritrea, ending a dispute that had led to war between the two countries from 1998-2000.

Curling
Scotland defeated Sweden to win the women’s world championship.