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Happy birthday to Jack Neely, and a mighty host of others.
Today in baseball history, in 2008 Chipper Jones hits his 400th career home run, becoming the third switch-hitter to reach this level, after Eddie Murray and Mickey Mantle. Ricky Nolasco
gives up the homer. Jones has a four-hit game to move his average to .418, the top mark in the majors at this point of the season, and other stories as well.Today in baseball history:
- 1871 – The eagerly awaited series opens between the White Stockings and the Mutuals before 10‚000 at the Union Grounds in Brooklyn, NY. Five of the old Eckfords play for Chicago while five of last year’s Atlantics play for the Mutuals. Fielding decides the game‚ as Chicago makes 19 errors to seven for the Mutuals. New York wins, 8-5.
- 1958 – At Yankee Stadium, New York routs White Sox starter Early Wynn for a 12-5 victory. In the third inning, Mickey Mantle legs out his third inside-the-park home run in a month.
- 1966 – In a 10-5 Pittsburgh win over the Astros, Willie Stargell goes 5 for 5, giving him nine consecutive hits in two days, while Roberto Clemente hits his second 500-foot home run of the year.
- 2016 – Jake Arrieta of the Cubs loses to the Diamondbacks, 3-2. It’s his first loss after 20 straight wins dating back to July 25, 2015, when he was on the losing end of Cole Hamels‘ no-hitter; it’s the third longest winning streak since 1913, tied with Roger Clemens and trailing only Roy Face (22) and Carl Hubbell (24).
Cubs Birthdays: Jack Neely*, Robinson
Chirinos, Billy Maloney, Jim Andrews. Also notable: Jack Chesbro HOF.
Today in history:
- 1884 – William Tecumseh Sherman refuses the Republican presidential nomination, saying, “I will not accept if nominated and will not serve if elected.”
- 1920 – First rivet driven on Bank of Italy headquarters at 1 Powell in San Francisco (later Bank of America)
- 1952 – First nationally televised sporting event, Jersey Joe Walcott defeats Ezzard Charles in 15 rounds for the heavyweight boxing title at Municipal Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
- 1968 – Palestinian Sirhan Sirhan assassinates Robert F. Kennedy, shooting him three times and wounding five others at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California. Kennedy dies the next day.
- 1981 – AIDS epidemic officially begins when US Centers for Disease Control reports on pneumonia affecting five homosexual men in Los Angeles.
- 1988 – Longest champagne cork flight is 177 feet nine inches in New York.
- 2001 – Tropical Storm Allison makes landfall on the upper Texas coastline as a strong tropical storm and dumps large amounts of rain over Houston, causing $5.5 billion in damages, the then costliest tropical storm in US history.
- 2013 – The first article based on NSA leaked documents by Edward Snowden are published by the Guardian Newspaper in the UK.
Today in Music History:
- 1964 – Davie Jones & King Bees release debut single “I Can’t Help Thinking About Me”; group disbands but Davie Jones goes on to success as David Bowie.
- 1964 – Rolling Stones 1st US concert tour (with Bobby Goldsboro & Bobby Vee) debuts in San Bernadino, California.
- 1965 – “Wooly Bully” by Sam the Sham & Pharaohs hits No. 2
- 1976 – “Bigfoot” by Bro Smith hits No. 57
- 1981 – George Harrison releases “Somewhere in England”, his ninth studio album, includes John Lennon tribute “All Those Years Ago” (Featuring Paul and Ringo)
- 1982 – “Murphy’s Law” by Cheri hits No. 39
- 1989 – Paul McCartney releases “Flowers in the Dirt”, his eighth solo studio album, featuring the Elvis Costello collaboration “My Brave Face”
- 2007 – Paul McCartney releases “Memory Almost Full”, in US; his fourteenth solo studio album was the first release on Starbucks’ Hear Music label
*pictured.
