This Date in History - April 8

Henry Aaron's historic home run happened on this date.   And not a speck of steroids was used.

217:  ROMAN EMPEROR CARACALLA IS ASSASSINATED.  

Back in the day when, if you didn't like a ruler...well...there were ways...

1093:  THE NEW WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL IS DEDICATED BY WALKELIN.

You're bringing me down.

1139:  ROGER II OF SICILY IS EXCOMMUNICATED.

Roger and out.

1149:  POPE EUGENE III TAKES REFUGE IN THE CASTLE OF PTOLEMY II OF TUSCULUM.

Tusculum?   I was prescribed that for a cough.

1665:  ENGLISH COLONIAL PATENTS ARE GRANTED FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MONMOUTH TRACT FOR WHAT WOULD BECOME MONMOUTH COUNTY IN NEW JERSEY.

And, later on, Monmouth Racetrack.

1730:  SHEARITH ISRAEL, THE FIRST SYNAGOGUE IN NEW YORK CITY, IS DEDICATED.

There would be one or two more.

1808:  THE ROMAN CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF BALTIMORE IS PROMOTED TO AN ARCHDIOCESE BY POPE PIUS VII.

So, a diocese is sort of like a Triple A minor league team?

1820:  THE VENUS DE MILO IS DISCOVERED ON THE AEGEAN ISLAND OF MELOS.

She was found unarmed.

1864:  DURING THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, UNION FORCES ARE THWARTED BY THE CONFEDERATE ARMY AT MANSFIELD, LOUISIANA.

Well, somehow, in the next 12 months, the Union fortunes would change for the better.

1892:  ACTRESS MARY PICKFORD IS BORN.

Did she come out with the curls?

1895:  THE SUPREME COURT OF THE US DECLARES UNAPPORTIONED INCOME TAX TO BE UNCONSTITUTIONAL.

How about all of income tax?

1904:  LONGACRE SQUARE IN MANHATTAN IS RENAMED TIMES SQUARE AFTER THE NEW YORK TIMES.

I did not know this and, sometimes with this weekly history entry, I even astound myself.

1906:  AUGUSTE DETER, THE FIRST PERSON TO BE DIAGNOSED WITH ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE, DIES.

I'm glad historians remembered this.  Auguste Deter sure didn't.

1908:  HARVARD UNIVERSITY VOTES TO ESTABLISH THE HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL.

Because all those smart graduates are going to need good accountants.

1913:  THE 17TH AMENDMENT TO THE US CONSTITUTION, REQUIRING DIRECT ELECTION OF SENATORS, BECOMES LAW.

I look at folks like Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid and suddenly this is not such a good thing.

1918:  FORMER FIRST LADY BETTY FORD IS BORN.

She died at 93, so drinking does have its merits.

1918:  ACTOR DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS AND CHARLIE CHAPLIN SELL WAR BONDS ON THE STREETS OF NEW YORK CITY.

I guess neither of them were good at Three Card Monte.

1923:  ACTOR EDWARD MULHARE IS BORN.

Years before he was a ghost on TV.

1933:  COMPOSER FRED EBB IS BORN.

Life begins...and it's a cabaret.

1935:  THE WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION IS FORMED WHEN THE EMERGENCY RELIEF APPROPRIATION ACT OF 1935 BECOMES LAW.

Shovel Ready, the 1935 Version.

1943:  US PRESIDENT FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT, IN AN ATTEMPT TO CHECK INFLATION, FREEZES WAGES AND PRICES, PROHIBITS WORKERS FROM CHANGING JOBS UNLESS THE WAR EFFORT IS AIDED, AND BARS RATE INCREASES FROM PUBLIC UTILITIES.

A busy day.  His mistress must have been out of town.

1943:  BROADWAY DIRECTOR MICHAEL BENNETT IS BORN.

A Chorus Life.

1952:  US PRESIDENT HARRY TRUMAN CALLS FOR THE SEIZURE OF ALL DOMESTIC STEEL MILLS TO PREVENT A NATIONWIDE STRIKE.

I wonder how Dewey would have handled this.

1954:  BASEBALL STAR GARY CARTER IS BORN.

This should be a national holiday.

1964:  UNMANNED GEMINI I IS LAUNCHED.

So who was steering it?

1974:  IN ATLANTA, HANK AARON HITS HIS 715TH CAREER HOME RUN TO SURPASS BABE RUTH'S RECORD.

And I don't care why anybody says.  Barry Bonds did not break Aaron's record.

1975:  FRANK ROBINSON MANAGES THE CLEVELAND INDIANS IN HIS FIRST GAME AS MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL'S FIRST BLACK MANAGER.

And, regardless of color, I hear the guy's a real shithead.

1978:  FORMER BASEBALL COMMISSIONER FORD FRICK DIES.

Frick him.

1987:  LA DODGERS EXECUTIVE AL CAMPANIS RESIGNS AMID CONTROVERSY OVER RACIAL COMMENTS HE MADE ON TV'S NIGHTLINE.

He said Black men can't swim.  How come nobody get into an uproar when somebody says White men can't jump?

1990:  ACTIVIST RYAN WHITE DIES.

That little kid with AIDs.

1992:  RETIRED TENNIS GREAT ARTHUR ASHE ANNOUNCES THAT HE HAS AIDs, ACQUIRED FROM BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS DURING HEART SURGERIES.

It's still amazing how slow hospitals were to react to this crisis.

1996:  ACTOR BEN JOHNSON DIES.

The real Last Picture Show.

2005: CHOREOGRAPHER ONNA WHITE DIES.

She created the "I've Got a Lot of Living" dance in Bye Bye Birdie.  For this alone, I want the day off.

2005:  OVER FOUR MILLION PEOPLE ATTEND THE FUNERAL OF POPE JOHN PAUL II.

Or, in translation, four years of Mets attendance at Citi Field.

2013:  ACTRESS ANNETTE FUNICELLO DIES.

M-i-c...d-e-a-d.

Dinner last night:  Leftover baked ham and vegetables.