Today in History

LizzieMaine said:

#714, called by Braves announcer Milo Hamilton. Commissioner Bowie Kuhn was conspicuous by his absence from both this game and the one in which Aaron broke the record, an absence Aaron bitterly resented at the time. Who would blame him?

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I have read that Bowie Kuhn was friends with Babe Ruth and that is the reason he didn't attend. But that is unlikely as Kuhn was in his early 20s when Ruth died.

In an interview later in life, Hank Aaron said there were no hard feelings about Kuhn's lack of attendance, at least not in Aaron's mind. He is a class act and is currently a Senior Vice President with the Atlanta Braves (formerly the Milwaukee Braves—remember Eddie Mathews?*)
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* He played for the Braves in all three cities they called home—Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta. That alone should have qualified him for the Hall of Fame, but he made it on his baseball skills. Probably the greatest 3rd baseman to have played the game. His partnership with Hank Aaron (in both Milwaukee and Atlanta) was one of the most feared hitting combinations in MLB. Sadly, Eddie left us at age 70 in 2001.

If the Braves had waited two more years, it would have been the Red Sox that left town. There's still some in New England who spit on the ground at the mention of Lou Perini's name.

On this day in 1843, Queen Victoria proclaimed Hong Kong a British crown colony.
On this day in 1941, Sir Nigel Gresley, one of Britain's most famous steam locomotive engineers died. His designs included the A1 series, Flying Scotsman and the A4 class - Mallard, which holds the record for being the fastest steam locomotive in the world at 126 mph.
And in a moment of irony, on this day in 1964, driverless trains began operating on the London Underground. Automation of London Underground rolling stock has been partially implemented since the introduction of automatic train operation on the Hainault to Woodford section of the Central line in 1964. It is currently in use on four lines. Transport for London plans to extend this to other lines by 2022.

Today in 1974, Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's home run record, hitting number 715. And Bowie Kuhn still wasn't in attendance.

Today, 8th April, in 1912, the Titanic, which had left its birthplace of Belfast for the first and last time on the 2nd April, was only two days away from its 10th April departure from Southampton on its ill-fated maiden voyage. In the insurance case which followed, the White Star Line cravenly tried to lay the blame for the disaster on Captain Smith, whom they had pressured to rush to arrive in the US ahead of schedule for publicity purposes. Fortunately they failed - and J Bruce Ismay, the highest ranking Whited Star Line management figure to survive the disaster, was branded a coward. It is still a matter of dispute whether this was fair; heand other first class men observedc the women andchildren first principle before taking to the boats - but they appliedc this only to their own class. As first class passengers were evacuated first (and the first several lifeboats left half-empty), others, especially third class / steerage, were kept below decks, effectively condemning them to die when the ship sank far faster than safety standards of the tie would have foreseen (the reason why, despite Titanic not having enough lifeboats to take allpassengers, actually had more than the legal minimum by someway). The story that Ismay dressed as a woman to gain acess to the lifeboat is now widely regarded to be a myth. Nevetheless, his reputation never recovered.

GHT said:

General Eisenhower was prophetic when he ordered The Ohrdruf camp, a sub-camp of the Buchenwald concentration camp, and the first Nazi camp liberated by US troops, to be photographed. Eisenhower new that someone, somewhere, in the future would cook up a conspiracy theory that the final solution never happened.

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I always ound it ironic that so many of those who would claim to support the Nazis since deny the evidence of these terrible events, when so much of the proof of them actually originates with the Nazis themselves and their own meticulous records.

Peacoat said:

I was in England in 1991, and the gun laws were pretty darn strict then. No one, including most police officers, could carry a weapon; handguns were banned; and shotguns and rifles were strictly regulated. Only a few police officers in each town/county were authorized to keep a rifle locked in the trunk of their police car. Seems to work for them.

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The British police, to the best of my knowledge have, with the exception of Northern Ireland (where it is considered a matter of self-defence rather than simply a law-enforcement tool), never been routinely armed. (The same is true of the Garda Siochana in the Irish Republic, who, post-partition, replaced the old Royal Irish Constabulary, who had been armed as the RUC, now PSNI, continued to be in the six counties that bcame "Northern Ireland".) There are swift-response armed units in the British police, deployed according to a strict protocol. The strongest lobby against rolling out arms to the police as standard has long come from the British police forces themselves.

GHT said:

When I saw that on the history website, I thought it best to avoid, but it's stupid to associate Uranus with your anus, after all, nobody is offended by the names Norfolk & Suffolk and in England we have the 'C' word hidden in Scunthorpe, we also have a river called Piddle and a village called Shitterton.

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Fun fact: America Online, in 1996, for seeral months prevented UK subscribers from registering Scunthorpe as their hometown for the simpl reason that thealgorithm could only see the C word.

Peacoat said:

I feel that corned beef and cabbage are in play for today.

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Perhaps in the US; "corned beef" (which means something very different indeed in Ireland) and cabbage is a NewWorld dish that became common among the Irish diaspora in the US; it is not, and never has been, a common dish in Ireland or even recognised as a "national dish". I suspect it might come from the same tradition as "St Patty" - I've no idea who she is, but lots of people in the US seem to celebrate her on the same day as St Patrick, for some reason.

Today in 1935, FDR signed the Emergency Relief Act to try and counter the Great Depression, authorizing almost $5 million to implement work-relief programs in the hope that it would lift the country out of the crisis. The act was unprecedented and remains the largest system of public-assistance relief programs in the nation’s history.

On April 8th, 1994, iconic grunge frontman Kurt Cobain was found dead with a fatal gunshot wound to the head, in what was ruled a suicide. Since that time, many issues with the official story have surfaced that indicate his death may have involved foul play, although the official cause of death remains death by self-inflicted gunshot wound.

On this day in 1994, the body of musician Kurt Cobain was found next to his suicide note. There was enough heroin in his system to kill him, but the fatal element was the shotgun he fired through the roof of his mouth. His body was identified by fingerprints as there wasn't enough left of his teeth to use dental records. Despite being one of the most famouspeople on the planet at the time, he had been missing for several days at this point, and his body was believed to have lain three days before being spotted by an electrician working up a ladder nearby. He was twenty-seven years old.

Edward said:

On this day in 1994, the body of musician Kurt Cobain was found next to his suicide note. There was enough heroin in his system to kill him, but the fatal element was the shotgun he fired through the roof of his mouth. His body was identified by fingerprints as there wasn't enough left of his teeth to use dental records. Despite being one of the most famouspeople on the planet at the time, he had been missing for several days at this point, and his body was believed to have lain three days before being spotted by an electrician working up a ladder nearby. He was twenty-seven years old.

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On this day in 1994, I heard the news that Kurt Cobain had killed himself.
My first (only) reaction was, "Who in the h--- is Kurt Cobain?"

^^^ 25 years later I still don't really know.

3fingers said:

^^^ 25 years later I still don't really know.

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I have to admit, i had to Google the name. He's the so called founder of the 27 club. Celebrities that have popped their mortal coil aged 27. Among many others are: Brian Jones, the founder of The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison all of whom died at the age of 27 between 1969 and 1971.

At the time, the coincidence gave rise to some comment, but it was not until Kurt Cobain 's 1994 death, at age 27, that the idea of a "27 Club" began to catch on in public perception. I remember a reference to the 27 club when singer Amy Winehouse died, aged just 27.

Yes, that sort of coverage is regrettable. I hate to see suicide glamourised.

Back to a more pleasant topic: This date in 1963, Sir Winston Churchill became the first honorary US citizen. Since then there have been seven honorary citizenships awarded, all but one being awarded posthumously. That was Mother Teresa in 1986.

On this date in 1913, Ebbets Field in Brooklyn opened for its first regular season game, with the Dodgers topping the Phillies 1-0. Local papers were effusive in their praise for the new park, with its elegant pink Italian marble ticket rotunda, but were somewhat less impressed with the fact that it had no press box. "We forgot," explained Charles H. Ebbets, to frowns from the assembled Knights of the Keyboard. Sixteen years later, the club finally got around to adding a press box.

On this date in 1939, contralto Marian Anderson performed a free concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial before an audience of 75,000 people, an event broadcast live to the nation over NBC. Anderson had been denied permission to perform a recital at the Daughters of the American Revolution's Constitution Hall on the basis of her race. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the DAR in outrage over the organization's overt racism, sparking a wave of anti-DAR sentiment in the press. Three years later, the DAR invited Anderson to perform at the hall in a series of war-relief concerts.

LizzieMaine said:

First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the DAR in outrage over the organization's overt racism, sparking a wave of anti-DAR sentiment in the press. Three years later, the DAR invited Anderson to perform at the hall in a series of war-relief concerts.

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Did she accept? I think I would have declined the invitation.

It was for the war effort -- China relief, to be specific -- so she accepted. She didn't do a full concert on her own there, though, until 1952 -- after the avowed racist who managed the venue for the DAR was gone. After that, she performed there fairly regularly.

Here's the full 1939 Lincoln Memorial Concert broadcast:


Note the way the NBC announcer softpedals the reason for the event. Wouldn't want to upset all those sensitive DAR snowflakes.

Back to baseball: Today in 1947 Jackie Robinson began play for the Brooklyn Dodgers, thus ending racial segregation in MLB.* What a difficult time for him that was. He made the Hall of Fame in 1962 and died in 1972. He was only 53 years old.
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*Well, at least it was the beginning of the end of segregation in MLB.

Peacoat said:

Back to baseball: Today in 1947 Jackie Robinson began play for the Brooklyn Dodgers, thus ending racial segregation in MLB.* What a difficult time for him that was. He made the Hall of Fame in 1962 and died in 1972. He was only 53 years old.
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*Well, at least it was the beginning of the end of segregation in MLB.

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I'm sure it was a difficult time for J.R.
Imagine being a kid and facing
issues in school, downtown, stores, theaters and sidewalks.

Back to baseball.
JR left us too soon!

Today in 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald published "The Great Gatsby".

Cheers, Fitz!

MissMittens said:

Today in 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald published "The Great Gatsby".

Cheers, Fitz! View attachment 164330

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Redford or Leonardo?

2jakes said:

Redford or Leonardo?

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I think neither of them truly did justice to Fitzgerald's story, but I liked the general aesthetic of Leo's version