April 21, 2012

130 years ago
1882

Born on this date
Percy Bridgman. U.S. physicist. Dr. Bridgman was awarded the 1946 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the invention of an apparatus to produce extremely high pressures, and for the discoveries he made there within the field of high pressure physics." The Bridgman effect, the Bridgman–Stockbarger technique, and the high-pressure mineral bridgmanite are named after him. Dr. Bridgman was suffering from metastatic cancer when he committed suicide by shooting himself on August 20, 1961 at the age of 79.

75 years ago
1937

Baseball
Manager Rogers Hornsby hit 2 singles and a home run to lead his St. Louis Browns to a 15-10 win over the Chicago White Sox before an opening day crowd of 7,090 at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis.

60 years ago
1952

On television tonight
Lights Out, on NBC
Tonight's episode: A Lucky Piece, starring Henry Jones and Adelaide Klein

50 years ago
1962

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy: Quando, Quando, Quando--Tony Renis (7th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): Wonderful Land--The Shadows (6th week at #1)

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Good Luck Charm--Elvis Presley

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Johnny Angel--Shelley Fabares
2 Mashed Potato Time--Dee Dee Sharp
3 Good Luck Charm--Elvis Presley
4 Soldier Boy--The Shirelles
5 Slow Twistin'--Chubby Checker (with Dee Dee Sharp)
6 Stranger on the Shore--Mr. Acker Bilk
7 Lover Please--Clyde McPhatter
8 Love Letters--Ketty Lester
9 Young World--Rick Nelson
10 Shout (Part 1)--Joey Dee and the Starliters

Singles entering the chart were Lovers Who Wander (#72)/(I Was) Born to Cry (#79) by Dion; Don't Play that Song by Ben E. King (#77); Hearts by Jackie Wilson (#80); I'll Take You Home by the Corsairs (#88); Count Every Star by Linda Scott (#89); Walk on with the Duke by Gene Chandler (#90); So This is Love by the Castells (#94); I'm on My Way by the Highwaymen (#95); March of the Siamese Children by Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen (#98); Teach Me Tonight by George Maharis (#99); Balboa Blue by the Marketts (#100); Meet Me at the Twistin' Place by Johnnie Morisette (also #100); and Sugar Blues by Ace Cannon (also #100).

Americana
The Seattle World's Fair, officially titled the Century 21 Exposition, opened. U.S. President John F. Kennedy, speaking by remote broadcast from Palm Beach, Florida, officially declared the fair open.





40 years ago
1972

Space
Apollo 16 astronauts John Young and Charlie Duke conducted their first extravehicular activity on the Moon, using the lunar rover.



Baseball
Lenny Randle batted 3 for 4 with a double and 4 runs batted in to help the Texas Rangers edge the California Angels 7-6 before 20,105 fans in the first major league game at Arlington Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Texas first baseman Frank Howard opened the scoring with a solo home run with 2 out in the bottom of the 1st inning.

Carlton Fisk tripled to lead off the bottom of the 7th inning and scored on a 1-out single by Tommy Harper for the eventual deciding run as the Boston Red Sox defeated the New York Yankees 5-4 before 14,895 fans at Fenway Park in Boston.

Dave McNally (2-0) pitched a 3-hitter to outduel Milt Wilcox (1-1) as the Baltimore Orioles shut out the Cleveland Indians 6-0 before 4,424 fans at Cleveland Stadium. The game was scoreless until Merv Rettenmund drew a base on balls with 2 out in the top of the 8th inning, stole second base, and scored on a double by Paul Blair. The Orioles put the game away with 5 runs in the 9th, climaxed by Boog Powell's grand slam with 2 out.

Jim Fairey’s pinch-hit double drove home John Boccabella and Tim Foli with 1 out in the bottom of the 8th inning to break a 0-0 tie as the Montreal Expos improved to 5-0 with a 2-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals before 14,559 fans at Jarry Park in Montreal. The Cardinals left 15 runners on base, including 9 when losing pitcher Rick Wise (0-2) was at bat. Mr. Fairey was batting for pitcher Bill Stoneman (2-0), who allowed 7 hits and 7 bases on balls in 8 innings, and was credited with the win. The Cardinals scored a run in the 9th against relief pitcher Mike Marshall and loaded the bases with 2 out, but Jose Cruz grounded out to first baseman Mike Jorgensen to end the game.

Bud Harrelson singled home Ed Kranepool and scored on a single buy Ken Boswell as the New York Mets scored twice in the bottom of the 5th inning and shut out the Chicago Cubs 2-0 before 11,144 fans at Shea Stadium in New York. Tom Seaver (2-0) pitched a 4-hitter to outduel Burt Hooton (1-1), who allowed 6 hits and 2 earned runs in 7 innings to suffer his first major league loss, in his first start since pitching a no-hitter five days earlier.

Pete Rose singled home pinch runner Darrel Chaney from second base with 1 out in the top of the 9th inning to break a 3-3 tie as the Cincinnati Reds edged the Atlanta Braves 4-3 before 6,762 fans at Atlanta Stadium. Mr. Chaney was running for pinch hitter Bernie Carbo, who was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. The Reds trailed 3-2 after 7 innings, but Joe Morgan hit a solo home run--his first homer in a Cincinnati uniform--with 1 out in the 8th to tie the score.

Vic Davalillo led off the 10th inning with a home run to break a 3-3 tie as the Pittsburgh Pirates edged the Philadelphia Phillies 4-3 before 13,864 fans at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. The Phillies were 1 out away from a 3-2 victory with the bases empty in the top of the 9th, but pinch hitter Manny Sanguillen singled, and Gene Alley doubled him home to tie the score. Ramon Hernandez retired the Phillies in order in the 9th and 10th innings.

The Los Angeles Dodgers scored 4 runs in the bottom of the 1st inning and 5 in the 2nd, and coasted to a 12-2 rout of the San Diego Padres before 30,320 fans at Dodger Stadium. Jim Lefebvre, Willie Davis, and Willie Crawford homered for the Dodgers, while Al Downing (1-1) pitched a 6-hit complete game victory and batted 1 for 3 with a base on balls and a run.

Doug Rader tripled home 3 runs in the 5th inning and Lee May and Jim Wynn added solo home runs for the Houston Astros as they beat the San Francisco Giants 7-3 before 16,898 fans at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Houston center fielder Cesar Cedeno batted 3 for 5 with a run, and made a great catch to rob Willie Mays of a home run.



30 years ago
1982

On television tonight
WKRP in Cincinnati, on CBS
Tonight's episode: Up and Down the Dial

This was the last episode of the series.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Division Finals
Quebec 4 @ Boston 3 (Quebec led best-of-seven series 3-2)
Los Angeles 2 @ Vancouver 5 (Vancouver won best-of-seven series 4-1)

Baseball
The Atlanta Braves scored 2 runs in the bottom of the 9th inning to defeat the Cincinnati Reds 3-2 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium to set a major league record with 13 wins to start the season.

PCL
Tucson 12 @ Edmonton 22

This was the Trappers’ home opener, and featured the first Renfrew Park appearances of Edmonton sluggers Ron Kittle and Greg Walker.

25 years ago
1987

Terrorism
Tamil Tigers were blamed after 105 people were killed and 200 wounded when a bomb exploded in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Division Finals
Toronto 4 @ Detroit 2 (Toronto led best-of-seven series 1-0)
Winnipeg 2 @ Edmonton 3 (OT) (Edmonton led best-of-seven series 1-0)

Baseball
The Chicago White Sox beat the Milwaukee Brewers 7-1, ending the Brewers’ major league record-tying winning streak from the start of the season at 13 games.

20 years ago
1992

World events
Abdul Rahim Hatif, interim President of Afghanistan, announced that he would turn power over to rebels, whose armies had closed in on the capital city of Kabul.

10 years ago
2002

Died on this date
Victor Weisskopf, 93. Austrian-born U.S. physicist. Mr. Weisskopf worked on the Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb during World War II and later campaigned against the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

World events
Israel began a partial withdrawal of troops from the West Bank cities of Nablus and Ramallah.

Politics and government
Socialist Party candidate Peter Medgyessey was elected to succeed Viktor Orban as Prime Minister of Hungary.

The first round of voting in France’s presidential election winnowed the 16-candidate field to incumbent Jacques Chirac and nationalist Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Baseball
Rafael Furcal tied a modern major league record with 3 triples to lead the Atlanta Braves to a 4-2 win over the Florida Marlins.

Randy Johnson struck out 17 batters, winning his 5th game of the season, as the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Colorado Rockies 7-1.

The Chicago White Sox scored 8 runs in the 1st inning off Jose Lima but needed a 2-run single by Ray Durham in the 8th inning to defeat the Detroit Tigers 11-8.

Jose Rijo pitched 5 scoreless innings and picked up his first win in his first start in 7 years as the Cincinnati Reds defeated the Chicago Cubs 5-3.

In the Texas League, Tulsa Drillers’ manager Tim Ireland was ejected from a game at Rich Winder Field in Little Rock for arguing with umpire Jason Markley about the music being played by organist Rich Pharris.