What is the story about?
Free of charge for the discerning reader.
Happy birthday to John Grabow, and a mighty host of others.
Today in baseball history, in 1959 – Ernie Banks wins his second National League MVP Award in a row on the strength of his 45 home runs and 143 RBI for the Chicago Cubs. Eddie Mathews finishes second, and 2016 – Five million fans turn out for the Cubs’ World Series victory parade in downtown Chicago, IL, 108 years in the making. The Chicago River is dyed in blue to celebrate the long-awaited title,
and other stories as well.
Today in baseball history:
- 1975 – Baltimore Orioles pitcher Jim Palmer wins his second Cy Young Award, after pacing the American League in wins (23), shutouts (10), and ERA (2.09).
- 1980 – Steve Carlton of the Philadelphia Phillies joins Sandy Koufax, Tom Seaver and Jim Palmer, as pitchers with three Cy Young Awards. Carlton garners all but one of the 24 first-place votes to take National League honors. He posted a 24-9 record with a 2.34 ERA and a league-leading 286 strikeouts.
- 1980 – Japan’s all-time home run hitter, Sadaharu Oh, retires from professional baseball. The Tokyo Yomiuri Giants‘ first baseman hit a record 868 home runs in his 22-year playing career.
- 1987 – San Diego Padres catcher Benito Santiago, who ended the season with a rookie-record 34-game hitting streak, is a unanimous selection as the National League Rookie of the Year.
- 1996 – New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter is the unanimous choice as American League Rookie of the Year. Jeter becomes the eighth Yankees player to win the award and the fifth unanimous selection in American League history.
- 1997 – Third baseman Scott Rolen is the unanimous choice for the 1997 National League Rookie of the Year Award and becomes the first Philadelphia Phillies player to win the award since Dick Allen in 1964.
- 2001 – In Game 7 of a classic World Series, the Arizona Diamondbacks rally for two runs in the bottom of the 9th inning to defeat the New York Yankees and their usually unbeatable closer, Mariano Rivera, 3-2. Tony Womack doubles in Midre Cummings to tie it and Luis Gonzalez singles in Jay Bell with the winner. The four-year-old Diamondbacks, the youngest franchise to win a Fall Classic, end New York’s string of three consecutive World Championships. Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling share the Series MVP honors. The Arizona pitchers are the first multiple winners since the Los Angeles Dodgers trio of Ron Cey, Pedro Guerrero and Steve Yeager shared the award in the 1981 World Series. Following the 2010 season, a panel of experts at the MLB Network will vote this game the ninth greatest game of the past fifty years.
- 2009 – The New York Yankees defeat Philadelphia, 7-3, in Game 6, to win the 2009 World Series. Hideki Matsui drives in a record six runs in the game on his way to earning the World Series Most Valuable Player Award.
- 2018 – Winners of the Gold Glove Award are announced. C Yadier Molina wins his ninth and LF Alex Gordon and 3B Nolan Arenado both win their sixth. There are also six first-time winners, including 1B Freddie Freeman who ends up in a rare, but not unprecedented, tie with Anthony Rizzo.
Cubs Birthdays: Gavin Hollowell, John Grabow*, Eric Karros, Angel Salazar, Dick Selma, Carl Sawatski, Emil Kush, Tommy Leach, Tom Hernon. Also notable: Bobby Wallace HOF.
Today in history:
- 1841 – The first wagon train arrives in California after a five-and-a-half-month, 1,730-mile journey over the Sierra Nevada from Missouri.
- 1862 – American inventor Richard Jordan Gatling patents the hand-cranked Gatling machine gun in Indianapolis.
- 1903 – Harvard Stadium, the first stadium built specifically for American football, holds its first game
- 1922 – Howard Carter discovers the intact tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun in Egypt.
- 1973 – NHL Chicago Black Hawks center Stan Mikita registers his 1,000 NHL career point in 5-3 loss to the Minnesota North Stars at the Met Centre, Bloomington, Minnesota.
- 1979 – 500 Iranian students loyal to Ayatollah Khomeini seize the US Embassy in Tehran, taking 90 hostages for 444 days.
- 1989 – Alexanderplatz demonstrations for political reforms draw over half a million people in East Berlin, significant event that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Today in presidential history:
- 1856 – James Buchanan elected 15th US president.
- 1884 – Grover Cleveland (D) beats James G. Blaine (R) for his 1st presidential term, later becoming first US President to serve 2 non-consecutive terms.
- 1924 – Calvin Coolidge is elected to a full term as President of the United States, defeating Democrat candidate John W. Davis.
- 1952 – Republican candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower is elected President of the United States, defeating Democrat candidate Adlai Stevenson.
- 1980 – Republican candidate Ronald Reagan is elected President of the United States, defeating incumbent Democrat US President Jimmy Carter by a landslide.
- 2008 – Barack Obama becomes the first African-American to be elected President of the United States, defeating Republican candidate John McCain.
Today in music history:
- 1961 – American folk singer-songwriter Bob Dylan makes his Carnegie Hall (NYC) debut; tickets priced at $2.00.
- 1967 – British rock band Pink Floyd make US live debut, sharing the bill with Big Brother & The Holding Company, and singer-songwriter Richie Havens, at the Winterland Auditorium, San Francisco, California.
- 1968 – Capitol Records releases “Wichita Lineman,” the 12th album by Glen Campbell (Billboard Album of the Year, 1969).
- 1984 – Funk-rocker Prince opens his “Purple Rain” tour featuring his new band ‘The Revolution’ with the 1st of seven shows at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan.
- 1996 – British girl group the Spice Girls release their debut album “Spice,” it goes on to sell 23 million copies.
- 1997 – Mercury Nashville Records releases “Come On Over,” the third studio album by country music singer Shania Twain (Billboard Album of the Year, 1999).
- 2003 – “Shock’n Y’all,” the eighth studio album by Toby Keith is released (Billboard Album of the Year 2004).
*pictured.
