October 5, 2014

800 years ago
1214

Died on this date
Alfonso VIII, 58. King of Castile and Toledo, 1158-1214. Alfonso VIII, the son of Sancho III, succeeded to the throne at the age of 3 and began ruling in his own right when he was 15. He was known for leading the campaign resulting in the reconquest of the city of Cuenca from Muslim control in 1177. Alfonso VIII's queen consort, Eleanor of Castile, was so consumed by grief over his passing that she died just 26 days later. Alfonso VIII was succeeded on the throne by his son Henry I.

225 years ago
1789

Protest
Women of Paris marched to Versailles to confront King Louis XVI of France about his refusal to promulgate the decrees on the abolition of feudalism, demand bread, and have the King and his court moved to Paris.

150 years ago
1864

Born on this date
Louis Lumière. French cinema pioneer. Mr. Lumière and his brother Auguste have been credited as the first filmmakers in history, patenting the cinematograph and making their first movie, Sortie de l'usine Lumière de Lyon, in 1894. He died on June 6, 1948 at the age of 83.

Disasters
60,000 people were killed when a cyclone struck Calcutta.

130 years ago
1884

Baseball
In a Union Association game, 2 errors by the St. Louis Maroons allowed the St. Paul Saints to score a run and escape with a 1-0 victory at Palace Park of America in St. Louis in a game called by rain after 5 innings. Charlie Sweeney pitched the first 2 innings for the Maroons and Henry Boyle the last 3, holding the Saints without a hit or a base on balls while striking out 9.

125 years ago
1889

Born on this date
Jim Bagby, Sr. U.S. baseball pitcher. Mr. Bagby played with the Cincinnati Reds (1912); Cleveland Indians (1916-1922); and Pittsburgh Pirates (1923), compiling a record of 127-89 with an earned run average of 3.11 in 316 games, and batting .218 with 2 home runs and 60 runs batted in in 325 games. His best season was 1920, when he was 31-12 with a 2.89 ERA in 48 games, leading the American League in games; complete games (30); innings pitched 339 2/3); hits allowed (338); and winning percentage (.721), while batting .252 with 1 home run and 14 RBIS in 49 games. Mr. Bagby helped the Indians win their first World Series in 1920, and was 1-1 in 2 games in the Series against the Brooklyn Robins, with a 1.80 ERA. He was the winning pitcher in game 5, and hit a 3-run homer, becoming the first pitcher to hit a home run in World Series competition. Mr. Bagby played 14 seasons in the minor leagues from 1910-1930, winning at least 132 games. His son Jim, Jr. was a major league pitcher from 1938-1947. Jim Bagby, Sr. died on July 28, 1954 at the age of 64.

Baseball
The National League season ended with the New York Giants defeating the Cleveland Spiders 5-3 at National League Park in Cleveland, while the Boston Beaneaters lost 6-1 to the Pittburgh Alleghenys at Recreation Park in Pittsburgh, clinching the pennant for the Giants.

100 years ago
1914

War
French and German pilots exchanged machine gun fire in the first aerial combat resulting in an intentional fatality.

90 years ago
1924

Baseball
World Series
New York Giants 3 @ Washington Nationals 4 (Best-of-seven series tied 1-1)

Roger Peckinpaugh doubled home Joe Judge with 1 out in the bottom of the 9th inning before 35,922 fans at Griffith Stadium to give the Nationals their first win ever in a World Series game. The Giants had trailed 3-1 after 8 innings but rallied for 2 runs in the top of the 9th.

Little World Series
St. Paul Saints (AA) 1 @ Baltimore Orioles (IL) 10 (Baltimore led best-of-nine series 3-1-1)

The Orioles scored 3 runs in the 1st inning en route to an easy win over the Saints before 3,190 fans at Oriole Park. George Earnshaw (1-0) pitched a 3-hitter and struck out 10 batters in a complete game victory over Howard Merritt (1-1). Baltimore left fielder Johnny Jacobs had 4 singles in 5 at bats. Mark Koenig hit a home run in the 6th inning for the St. Paul run.

80 years ago
1934

Baseball
World Series
Detroit Tigers 1 @ St. Louis Cardinals 4 (St. Louis led best-of-seven series 2-1)

Paul "Daffy" Dean went the distance in pitching the Cardinals to the win over the Tigers before 34,073 fans at Sportsman’s Park.

75 years ago
1939

Baseball
World Series
Cincinnati Reds 0 @ New York Yankees 4 (New York led best-of-seven series 2-0)

Monte Pearson gave up just 2 hits in outduelling Bucky Walters as the Yankees beat the Reds before 59,971 fans at Yankee Stadium. Babe Dahlgren hit a double and home run to help the Yankee cause.



70 years ago
1944

War
Royal Canadian Air Force pilots shot down the first German jet fighter over France. U.S. troops exploiting the breakthrough in the Siegfried Line in Germany gained one mile north of Aachen.

Abominations
Suffrage was extended to women in France.

Economics and finance
German propaganda minister Josef Goebbels ordered new cuts in food for German civilians to follow the previous week's cut in bread and sugar rations.

Energy
Mexican Economics Minister Gustavo Serrano announced that the government would invest $20 million in cooperation with private enterprise to electrify Mexico over a 15-year period.

Politics and government
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, campaigning for a fourth term, said that he didn't want the political support of any person or group associated with Communism, fascism, or any other ideology committed to the undermining of the United States.

Football
MASSFL
Service Flying Training School (Gimli) (0-2) 3 @ Wireless School (Winnipeg) (2-0)

Alf Laidlaw and Paul Platz scored touchdowns for the Bombers as they beat the Hurricanes at Osborne Stadium. Dave Berry added a convert and 2 field goals. Mr. Keating kicked a field goal for SFTS.

Baseball
World Series
St. Louis Browns 2 @ St. Louis Cardinals 3 (11 innings) (Best-of-seven series tied 1-1)

Pinch hitter Ken O'Dea singled home Ray Sanders with 1 out in the bottom of the 11th inning as the Cardinals edged the Browns before 35,076 fans at Sportsman's Park.

60 years ago
1954

On the radio
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson, on BBC Light Programme
Tonight's episode: The Blackmailer (Charles Augustus Milverton)

This was the first episode of the series, and also included an account of how Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson first met.

Boxing
Ed Sanders (5-1-1) and Bert Whitehurst (18-4-1) fought a 10-round draw in a heavyweight bout at Boston Arena.

50 years ago
1964

Hit parade
#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Tú Serás Mi Baby (Be My Baby)--Les Surfs (9th week at #1)

On television tonight
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, on NBC
Tonight's episode: Return of Verge Likens, starring Peter Fonda, Robert Emhardt, and George Lindsey

This was the first episode of the season.

World events
57 people escaped East Germany by tunneling under the Berlin Wall.

Auto racing
Art Arfons of the United States, driving his turbojet-powered car Green Monster, set the world land speed record, averaging 434.03 miles per hour at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah to break the record of 413.2 mph set there three days earlier by fellow American Tom Green.

Football
CFL
British Columbia (7-1-3) 7 @ Montreal (4-5) 14

Rookie quarterback George Bork completed 18 of 28 passes for 227 yards and 2 touchdowns--both in the 4th quarter--as the Alouettes handed the Lions their first loss of the season, before 17,084 fans at Molson Stadium.

40 years ago
1974

Hit parade
#1 single in the Netherlands (Veronica Top 40): The Wall Street Shuffle--10 C.C.

#1 single in the U.K.: Kung Fu Fighting--Carl Douglas (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): I Honestly Love You--Olivia Newton-John

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Then Came You--Dionne Warwick and the Spinners
2 Nothing from Nothing--Billy Preston
3 I Honestly Love You--Olivia Newton-John
4 Earache My Eye (Featuring Alice Bowie)--Cheech & Chong
5 Rock Me Gently--Andy Kim
6 Beach Baby--First Class
7 You Haven't Done Nothin'--Stevie Wonder
8 Can't Get Enough--Bad Company
9 Another Saturday Night--Cat Stevens
10 Sweet Home Alabama--Lynyrd Skynyrd

Singles entering the chart were The Black-Eyed Boys by Paper Lace (#83); Longfellow Serenade by Neil Diamond (#84); Easy Street by the Edgar Winter Group (#92); Don't Send Nobody Else by Ace Spectrum (#93); Candy's Going Bad by Golden Earring (#94); Ride 'Em Cowboy by Paul Davis (#95); Just One Look by Anne Murray (#96); Let This Be a Lesson to You by the Independents (#97); Carrie's Gone by J.C. Stone (#98); and She Called Me Baby by Charlie Rich (#99).

Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 I Honestly Love You--Olivia Newton-John
2 Another Saturday Night--Cat Stevens
3 Hang on in There Baby--Johnny Bristol
4 Clap for the Wolfman--The Guess Who
5 Beach Baby--First Class
6 You Haven't Done Nothin'--Stevie Wonder
7 Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe--Barry White
8 Then Came You--Dionne Warwick and the Spinners
9 Rock Me Gently--Andy Kim
10 I Shot the Sheriff--Eric Clapton

Singles entering the chart were Whatever Gets You Thru the Night by John Lennon with the Plastic Ono Nuclear Band (#91); Pretzel Logic by Steely Dan (#94); Sha-La-La by Al Green (#96); Travelin' Shoes by Elvin Bishop (#98); My Melody of Love by Bobby Vinton (#99); and The Player (Part 1) by First Choice (#100).

Calgary's Top 10
1 I Honestly Love You--Olivia Newton-John (5th week at #1)
2 Beach Baby--First Class
3 I Shot the Sheriff--Eric Clapton
4 Another Saturday Night--Cat Stevens
5 Tell Me Something Good--Rufus
6 It's Only Rock and Roll (But I Like It)--Rolling Stones
7 Eyes of Silver--The Doobie Brothers
8 Forever and Ever--Keith Hampshire
9 Sideshow--Blue Magic
10 Sweet Home Alabama--Lynyrd Skynyrd
Pick hit of the week: Steppin' Out (Gonna Boogie Tonight)--Tony Orlando and Dawn

Albertana
The Four Seasons Hotel, with 400 suites, opened in downtown Calgary.

Terrorism
5 people were killed and 65 injured when bombs exploded in two pubs in the southern English town of Guildford.

Hockey
Canada (WHA)-U.S.S.R. (Exhibition)
Canada 5 U.S.S.R. 4 @ Moscow (U.S.S.R. led eight-game series 3-2-2)

Bobby Hull scored the winning goal in the final seconds of the game for World Hockey Association's Canadian representatives, but was officially deprived of the score by a crooked Russian timekeeper and grossly incompetent Canadian junior referee Tom Brown. As far as this blogger is concerned, the goal was good, and it was a win for Canada. Ralph Backstrom scored 2 goals for Canada--including the tying goal at 6:38 of the 3rd period--and added an assist. Tom Webster and Mark Howe scored the other Canadian goals. Vyacheslav Anisin, Yuri Tiurin, Sergei Gusev, and Boris Mikhailov scored for the Soviets. Vladislav Tretiak was in goal for the U.S.S.R., Gerry Cheevers for Canada.

Football
CFL
Edmonton (7-4) 20 @ Toronto (5-7) 22

Bad calls by the officials on two consecutive offensive plays by the Eskimos late in the game enabled the Argonauts to have possession of the ball, and Zenon Andrusyshyn kicked a 36-yard field goal with 1:09 remaining in the game to provide the winning points before 32,614 fans at CNE Stadium. Edmonton was leading 20-19, and a pass completion from Tom Wilkinson to Larry Highbaugh appeared to be good for a first down, but he was marked a yard back of the 10-yard mark. On third down, Calvin Harrell appeared to have rushed for the necessary yard, but he was again ruled short, and the Argonauts took possession. Edmonton quarterback Tom Wilkinson completed 22 of 29 passes for 269 yards, while Edmonton running back Roy Bell rushed for 114 yards. Mr. Harrell rushed twice for 1-yard touchdowns. Mike Rae completed a 2-yard touchdown pass to Peter Muller in the 1st quarter and handed off to Ed Shuttlesworth in the 4th quarter. Toronto defensive back Dave Raimey, who had returned a 105-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against the Eskimos on his first CFL play in 1965, returned an interception 45 yards against the Eskimos on his last CFL play, going down with a career-ending knee injury on the play.

Baseball
National League Championship Series
Los Angeles 3 @ Pittsburgh 0 (Los Angeles led best-of-five series 1-0)

American League Championship Series
Baltimore 6 @ Oakland 3 (Baltimore led best-of-five series 1-0)

Don Sutton pitched a 4-hitter and singled and drew a base on balls, and the Dodgers scored 2 insurance runs in the 9th inning as they beat the Pirates before 40,638 fans at Three Rivers Stadium.



The Orioles scored 4 runs in the top of the 5th inning--3 on home runs by Brooks Robinson and Bobby Grich--to take a 6-1 lead as they beat the Athletics before 41,609 fans at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Mike Cuellar won the pitchers' duel over Catfish Hunter.

30 years ago
1984

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Pride (In the Name of Love)--U2

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): I Just Called to Say I Love You--Stevie Wonder (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): I Just Called to Say I Love You--Stevie Wonder (4th week at #1)

Died on this date
Leonard Rossiter, 57. U.K. actor. Mr. Rossiter was a comic actor best known for his starring roles in the television comedy series The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (1976-1979) and Rising Damp (1974-1978). He appeared in a feature film version of Rising Damp (1980), as well as Billy Liar (1963), Britannia Hospital (1982), and Water (1985). From 1978-1983, Mr. Rossiter appeared with Joan Collins in a series of commercials for Cinzano, examples of which can be found here, here, here, and here. Mr. Rossiter was acting at the Lyric Theatre in London in the Joe Orton play Loot, when he missed an entrance. He was found in his dressing room, dead of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a congenital weakness of the heart muscles.

Space
Five men and two women, the largest crew in the history of space flight to that time, lifted off in the U.S. space shuttle Challenger to begin mission STS-41-G. Among the crew members was Canada’s first astronaut, Marc Garneau. The shuttle deployed a satellite to measure the amount of solar energy reaching the earth.

Crime
Police and Customs in Essex seized what was thought to be the biggest haul of cannabis made in a single raid in Britain.

Economics and finance
The United States Labor Department reported that unemployment in September remained at 7.3%.

Baseball
American League Championship Series
Detroit 1 @ Kansas City 0 (Detroit won best-of-five series 3-0)

A 2nd-inning run stood up as Milt Wilcox, with 9th-inning help from Guillermo Hernandez, outduelled Charlie Leibrandt as the Tigers edged the Royals before 52,168 fans at Tiger Stadium for the series sweep and their first American League pennant since 1968. Each team had only 3 hits.

25 years ago
1989

Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Finnish Singles Chart): Ehtaa tavaraa (80-luvun tykki)--Bat & Ryyd (4th week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Sweet Surrender--Wet Wet Wet

Edmonton's Top 10
1 Right Here Waiting--Richard Marx
2 Cold Hearted--Paula Abdul
3 On Our Own--Bobby Brown
4 Girl I'm Gonna Miss You--Milli Vanilli
5 Keep on Movin'--Soul II Soul
6 Don't Wanna Lose You--Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine
7 Hangin' Tough--New Kids on the Block
8 If I Could Turn Back Time--Cher
9 Joy and Pain--Rob Base and D.J. E-Z Rock
10 Miss You Much--Janet Jackson

World events
As U.S.S.R. President Mikhail Gorbachev arrived in East Berlin for the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the German Democratic Republic, police in Dresden were busy holding back 10,000 people seeking to board trains coming from the West German embassy in Prague travelling through East Germany on their way to West Germany. Mr. Gorbachev, in apparent response to speculation that he wanted to see the East German government move more quickly toward reform, said that matters relating to the government would be decided "not in Moscow, but in Berlin."

Scandal
Disgraced televangelist Jim Bakker was convicted on all 24 counts of fraud and conspiracy in a U.S. federal court in Charlotte, North Carolina. The prosecution contended that Mr. Bakker had solicited donations for vacations he could not provide at his Heritage USA theme park in South Carolina and that he spent $3.7 million of the donations on his lavish lifestyle.

Environment
Yvon Charbonneau, chairman of Quebec's Commission of Inquiry on hazardous waste, published data stating that the Ministry of the Environment ignored where 60% of the 410,000 tons of hazardous waste produced annually in Quebec passed.

Baseball
National League Championship Series
San Francisco 5 @ Chicago 9 (Best-of-seven series tied 1-1)

The Cubs scored 6 runs in the bottom of the 1st inning and held on for the win over the Giants before 39,195 fans at Wrigley Field. Losing pitcher Rick Reuschel, a former Cub, was knocked out of the box after just 2/3 inning.



20 years ago
1994

World events
Bodies of 48 members of the Order of the Solar Temple were found in a burned-out farmhouse and three chalets in Switzerland, following the discovery of two bodies of cult members at a burned-out condominium north of Montreal.

Diplomacy
South African President Nelson Mandela and U.S. President Bill Clinton concluded two days of talks in Washington. Mr. Clinton announced a program of aid for South Africa and other southern African countries that included funds to aid medium- and small-sized businesses, as well as money for health care and electrification.

10 years ago
2004

Died on this date
Maurice Wilkins, 87. N.Z.-born U.K. physicist and biologist. Dr. Wilkins was awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Francis Crick and James Watson "for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material."

Rodney Dangerfield, 82. U.S. comedian. Mr. Dangerfield, born Jacob Cohen, was known for saying, "I don't get no respect." His album No Respect (1980) won a Grammy Award. Mr. Dangerfield's movies included Caddyshack (1980); Easy Money (1983); and Back to School (1986). Mr. Dangerfield died of complications from heart surgery.

Politics and government
U.S. Senator John Edwards (North Carolina), the Democratic party candidate for Vice President of the United States, and incumbent Vice President Dick Cheney, the Republican party nominee, engaged in their only debate of the 2004 election campaign. The U.S. war in Iraq was the main topic of discussion.

Health
It was announced that half of the flu vaccine in the United States would have to be destroyed because its maker, Chiron Corporation, had had its manufacturing license suspended.

Baseball
National League Division Series
Los Angeles 3 @ St. Louis 8 (St. Louis led best-of-five series 1-0)

American League Division Series
Boston 9 @ Anaheim 3 (Boston led best-of-five series 1-0)
Minnesota 2 @ New York 0 (Minnesota led best-of-five series 1-0)