January 7, 2013

100 years ago
1913

Born on this date
Johnny Mize. U.S. baseball player. Mr. Mize was a first baseman with the St. Louis Cardinals (1936-1941); New York Giants (1942, 1946-1949); and New York Yankees (1949-1953), batting .312 with 359 home runs and 1,337 runs batted in in 1,884 games. He won the National League batting title in 1939 and led the NL in home runs that year, while tying for the NL lead in home runs in 1940, 1947, and 1948. Mr. Mize was an effective part-time player with the Yankees as they won five straight World Series from 1949-1953. He hit 3 home runs in a game six times, which remains the major league record. Mr. Mize was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981 and died on June 2, 1993 at the age of 80.

70 years ago
1943

Died on this date
Nikola Tesla, 86. Serbian-born U.S. inventor. Mr. Tesla was one of the late 19th and early 20th century's most prominent electrical inventors and engineers, and contributed to the development of alternating current.

60 years ago
1953

On the radio
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring Carleton Hobbs and Norman Shelley, on BBC Home Service
Tonight's episode: The Red-Headed League

I Was a Communist for the FBI, starring Dana Andrews
Tonight’s episode: Little Boy Blue Turned Red

Defense
U.S. President Harry Truman announced in his last State of the Union address that the United States had developed the hydrogen bomb. Mr. Truman warned Soviet leader Josef Stalin that a war provoked by the U.S.S.R. would mark the ruin of the Soviet Union and his homeland.

40 years ago
1973

Crime
Mark Essex fatally shot 10 people and wounded 13 others at a Howard Johnson's hotel in New Orleans before being shot to death by police.

30 years ago
1983

Hit parade
#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Do You Really Want to Hurt Me--Culture Club (5th week at #1)

25 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Never Gonna Give You Up--Rick Astley (5th week at #1)

Died on this date
Trevor Howard, 74. U.K. actor. Mr. Howard appeared in such movies as Brief Encounter (1945); The Third Man (1949); The Heart of the Matter (1953); Von Ryan's Express (1965); and White Mischief (1987).

20 years ago
1993

Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Lahja--Klamydia

Politics and government
The Fourth Republic of Ghana was inaugurated, with Jerry Rawlings as President.