Today in 1961, the Chicago Cubs announced they wouldn't hire a manager for the new season, and would instead use a rotating "College" of coaches. You can probably guess how well that worked out.
Today in 1901, the first table tennis tournament concluded in London. It's also known as ping pong, and there were plenty of other proposed names back in the early days.
Today in 1978, the New Jersey Nets lost to the Philadelphia 76ers. But part of the game would be replayed the following March, and when it was, several of the players on each team had been traded to the other, and ended up playing in the game! Plus: two artists have built a "stairway to heaven" in Taiwan. Someone let Robert Plant know please.
Today in 1975, game 6 of the World Series between the Cincinnati Reds and the Boston Red Sox. The iconic clip of Carlton Fisk waving his game-winning home run fair was caught by the camera kind of by accident. Plus: a couple in the UK gets a ticket because a traffic camera caught their car driving in the bus-only lane, except that they weren't in the bus-only lane. Or in a car. Or in that city.
Today in 1968, a high jumper from Oregon, Dick Fosbury, changed his sport forever by winning gold with an unusual jumping motion now known as the Fosbury Flop. Plus: today in 2018, passengers on a bus in Paris refused to make room for a rider using a wheelchair. So the bus driver made room.
Today in 1954, Willie Mays made one of the most amazing plays in baseball history - an over the shoulder catch in deep center field, followed by a throw that kept the opposing baserunners from scoring. And yet, Mays was so great that some researchers say The Catch wasn't even his greatest catch! Plus: for Goose Day, a visit to Belfast to see a statue in honor of Alec the Goose.
Today in 1881, Eleonora Sears was born in Boston. She would go on to be one of the most versatile and accomplished athletes of the early 20th century, excelling in dozens of sports, from tennis and squash to boxing and auto racing. Plus: the website House Rules catalogs all the fun homegrown variations people have come up with for classic board games.
Paralympic athletes are in Tokyo to compete and maybe to win a gold medal, if they can. The benchmark for Paralympic gold, by the way: 55 medals by a single athlete, swimmer Trischa Zorn. Plus: today in 1936, a newspaper ran a short piece about inventor Isabella Gilbert and her dimple-making machine.
The Olympic Games are supposed to bring the countries of the world together, but that isn't always what happens. Several times the Games have been canceled, and at other times, boycotts have led some countries to hold their own alternative competitions. Plus: we mark the birthday of the great Black scientist and inventor Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson.
Today in 1911, a very strange thing happened in a baseball game: a guy on second base ran backwards and stole first base, the base he'd just been on. Here's his very unusual story. Plus: today in 1901 music legend Louis Armstrong was born in New Orleans, but if you want to take part in events to commemorate his birthday, you’re a month late.
