August 27, 2012

125 years ago
1887

Baseball
Mike Kelly and Ezra Sutton each scored 6 runs as the Boston Beaneaters beat the Pittsburgh Alleghenys 28-14.

120 years ago
1892

Disasters
Fire almost completely burned the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City.

75 years ago
1937

Baseball
Fred Frankhouse of the Brooklyn Dodgers pitched a no-hitter for 7 2/3 innings, but rain ended the game at that point as the Dodgers blanked the Cincinnati Reds 5-0 at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn.

60 years ago
1952

On the radio
I Was a Communist for the FBI, starring Dana Andrews
Tonight’s episode: Burnt Offering

On television tonight
The Unexpected, hosted by Herbert Marshall, on NBC
Tonight's episode: One for the Money, starring Isabel Jewell, Katherine Locke, and Billy Sheffield

Football
IRFU
Ottawa (1-0) 32 @ Montreal (0-1) 28

Tom O'Malley completed touchdown passes of 43 yards to Bill Stanton and 80 yards to Howie Turner and another to Bob Rumball to lead the defending Grey Cup champion Rough Riders over the Alouettes before 20,566 fans at Royals Stadium. Mr. Turner also rushed 10 yards for a touchdown, while Al Baldwin scored the other Ottawa touchdown. Montreal quarterback Sam Etcheverry, in his first professional game, connected with Red O'Quinn for 2 touchdowns and rushed for another himself. It was Mr. O'Quinn's first game in Canada. Ed Salem and Virgil Wagner rushed for the other Alouette touchdowns.

50 years ago
1962

Died on this date
Bob McArdle, 28. Canadian football player. Mr. McArdle, a tackle with the Trois-Rivieres Braves of the Quebec Intermediate Football League, died 24 hours after collapsing during a game. The cause of death was determined as overexertion caused by stimulants; teammates said that Mr. McArdle had taken four benzedrine tablets before the game, and two during the game. In the first quarter he had begun shouting at the Braves' trainer for no apparent reason, and collapsed shortly after being pulled from the game by his coach because of erratic play.

Space
The U.S.A. launched the probe Mariner 2 toward Venus. It was the first probe sent to another planet.

Football
CFL
Saskatchewan (2-2-1) 7 @ Calgary (1-3-1) 7
Ottawa (3-1) 18 @ British Columbia (2-2) 7

Ferd Burket punted 11 times for an average of 50.5 yards per punt and 3 singles for the Roughriders. Reg Whitehouse added a field goal and single for Saskatchewan. The Stampeders' scoring came on an Earl Lunsford touchdown rush, converted by Larry Robinson. 11,000 fans attended the game at McMahon Stadium on a rainy night.

Linebacker Jim Conroy intercepted a Joe Kapp pass and returned it 30 yards for a touchdown with 16 seconds remaining in the 1st half as the Rough Riders beat the Lions before 29,423 fans at Empire Stadium in Vancouver. Quarterback Russ Jackson scored the other Ottawa touchdown. B.C.'s only touchdown came on an 18-yard pass from Mr. Kapp to Tom Larscheid in the 3rd quarter.

40 years ago
1972

Football
CFL
Calgary (2-3) 3 @ Saskatchewan (3-3) 35

The Roughriders set a CFL record for a single game that still stands by returning interceptions for 291 yards in their win over the Stampeders at Taylor Field in Regina. Bruce Bennett returned an interception 112 yards for a touchdown, and Lewis Cook returned another 98 yards for a touchdown. Calgary middle linebacker Wayne Harris returned a partially-blocked field goal attempt 19 yards, bur felt something snap in his neck, and the injury ended his 12-year Hall of Fame career. He dressed for the Stampeders’ next game, but never played again.

30 years ago
1982

Space
Three Soviet cosmonauts returned to Earth after an 11-day mission that included time aboard the Salyut 7 space station. Svetlana Savitskaya, the second woman to go into space, set a record for space endurance for a woman.

War
More than 1,300 Palestine Liberation Organization troops left Beirut for Damascus.

Politics and government
Spanish Prime Minister Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo dissolved parliament and called for new elections to be held on October 28. His action was spurred by a large number of defections from his Union of the Democratic Centre party. By holding the elections in just one month instead of the constitutionally scheduled time of the spring of 1983, Mr. Calvo Sotelo gave his opponents less time to organize and campaign.

Crime
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation reported that the crime rate in 1981 had declined 2% from the rate of the previous year. Murders were down 2.3%; aggravated assaults, 1.7%; burglaries, 0.5%; motor vehicle thefts, 3.6%; and forcible rapes, 0.7%. The only crimes to increase in percentage were robbery (4.6%) and larceny-theft (0.6%).

Scandal
Leroy Williams, the former U.S. congressional page who had claimed to have had homosexual relations with legislators, admitted that he had h lied in his accusations, saying that he had made the claims to draw abuses in the congressional page system.

Football
CFL
Calgary (4-2-1) 31 @ Montreal (1-6) 30

The Concordes blew a 30-11 lead and gave up 20 points in the last 5 minutes of the game as they lost to the Stampeders before 12,268 fans at Olympic Stadium. Former Montreal quarterback Gerry Dattilio, who had relieved starter Bruce Threadgill in the 4th quarter, handed off to James Sykes for a 1-yard touchdown with 4:53 remaining; a 2-point convert attempt was unsuccessful, leaving the score at 30-17. Just 1 minute and 2 seconds later, Terry Irvin intercepted a Johnny Evans pass and returned it 34 yards for a touchdown, and J.T. Hay’s convert reduced the deficit to 30-24. A Montreal fumble was recovered by Calgary on the Concordes’ 36-yard line with less than 1½ minutes remaining. Mr. Dattilio completed 3 passes to Tom Forzani and handed off to Mr. Sykes for a 1-yard touchdown with 8 seconds remaining. Mr. Hay’s convert was the winning point. Mr. Evans rushed 1 yard for the game’s first touchdown in the 2nd quarter and connected with Nick Arakgi for a 10-yard touchdown in the 3rd quarter. Defensive end Doug Scott returned an interception 12 yards for the other Montreal touchdown in the 3rd quarter. Don Sweet missed the convert on the final Montreal touchdown, and the miss proved costly. Calgary’s first touchdown came on the last play of the 3rd quarter on a 10-yard pass from Mr. Threadgill to Willie Armstead, followed by a 2-point convert on a pass from Mr. Threadgill to Mr. Forzani. Calgary defensive back Lepoleon Ingram suffered a season-ending knee injury on the opening kickoff, and dressed for just 4 more CFL games in the next 2 years.

Baseball
In a 5-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers at County Stadium in Milwaukee, Rickey Henderson of the Oakland Athletics stole his 119th, 120th, 12st, and 122nd bases of the season, breaking the major league record for a single season set by Lou Brock of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1974.

25 years ago
1987

Politics and government
Robert Maclennan was named as the new leader of Britain's Social Democratic Party, succeeding David Owen, who had recenlty resigned.

Labour
20,000 black South African gold and coal miners were fired, 18 days into a strike by 250,000 miners.

Baseball
The Kansas City Royals fired manager Billy Gardner, who had replaced ailing Dick Howser in spring training. John Wathan, manager of the Royals' AAA farm team in Omaha, was named to succeed Mr. Gardner, and the Royals won their first game for him, as George Brett's home run in the 10th inning gave the Royals a 3-2 win over the Minnesota Twins.

20 years ago
1992

Hit parade
#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Rhythm is a Dancer--Snap! (3rd week at #1)

War
The principals in the Yugoslavian civil war, meeting in London, agreed to a peace accord. The terms included a cessation of violence in Bosnia and the release of all people held in detention camps. It was agreed that no territory gained by force would be recognized by the international community. Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic supported the accord but claimed that Serbia had no control over camps in Bosnia.

World events
A “no-fly” zone, proposed by the United States and supported by Great Britain and France, went into effect, covering about 1/3 of Iraq. 200 U.S. aircraft bore the burden, which resulted from accusations of genocide on the part of the Iraqi regime of President Saddam Hussein against the country’s Shiite Muslim minority population.

Football
CFL
Hamilton (5-3) 37 @ Winnipeg (4-4) 35 (OT)

Paul Osbaldiston’s 20-yard field goal with 1 second remaining in the 2nd overtime period gave the Tiger-Cats their win over the Blue Bombers before 26,215 fans at Winnipeg Stadium. Mr. Osbaldiston kicked 5 field goals, including 3 in overtime. Larry Thompson of the Blue Bombers caught 9 passes for 154 yards and 3 touchdowns, including one in the 1st overtime period. Hamilton quarterback Damon Allen completed touchdown passes to Nick Mazzoli and Earl Winfield, and Hamilton linebacker Lance Trumble scored his only CFL touchdown when he recovered a fumble in the Winnipeg end zone when a kick returner attempted to run a missed field goal attempt back. Warren Hudson scored the other Winnipeg touchdown on a 3-yard rush in the 1st quarter. Michael Richardson, playing his first CFL game, rushed 22 times for 197 yards for the Blue Bombers, but also fumbled 3 times. The Blue Bombers fumbled 8 times, and lost 5, while Winnipeg quarterback Matt Dunigan also gave up 4 interceptions.

Baseball
David Cone, who had led National League pitchers in strikeouts in 1990 and 1991 and was leading again in 1992, was traded by the New York Mets to the Toronto Blue Jays, currently leading the American League East Division, for second baseman Jeff Kent and outfielder Ryan Thompson.

10 years ago
2002

Labour
Major league baseball owners and the Players' Association agreed for the first time to test players for steroids. If more than 5% of the tests in 2003 were positive, mandatory testing would go into effect and players would face a scale of penalties.

Baseball
Barry Bonds hit 3 home runs in a game for the fourth time in his major league career and added a double to lead the San Francisco Giants past the Colorado Rockies 7-4.

Rookie third baseman Joe Crede hit a 2-run home run in the 9th inning to tie the game and a grand slam in the 10th to win it as the Chicago White Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays 8-4.