Wednesday, June 30, 2021

This Date in History - June 30

Happy birthday to Ron Swoboda.   I am still marveling over your catch in the 1969 World Series.

296:  POPE MARCELLINUS BEGINS HIS PAPACY.

When do we get some simpler Pope names like Leo or John?

1559:  KING HENRY II OF FRANCE IS MORTALLY WOUNDED IN A JOUSTING MATCH AGAINST GABRIEL, COMTE DE MONTGOMERY.

What the hell is a comte?

1859:  FRENCH ACROBAT CHARLES BLONDIN CROSSES NIAGARA FALLS ON A TIGHTROPE.

It amazes me the number of people who try things that could ultimately kill you.

1864:  US PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN GRANTS YOSEMITE VALLEY TO CALIFORNIA FOR "PUBLIC USE, RESORT AND RECREATION."

Sounds like Lincoln was looking for a vacation spot.

1906:  THE US CONGRESS PASSES THE MEAT INSPECTION ACT AND PURE FOOD AND DRUG ACT.

That will keep them busy for the next...well...thousand years.

1917:  ACTRESS SUSAN HAYWARD IS BORN.

She was in a movie "I Want to Live."  And on this date she does.

1917:  SINGER LENA HORNE IS BORN.

I wonder if she and Susan are twins.

1919:  BASEBALL COACH ED YOST IS BORN.

Also a member of the 1969 NY Mets.

1921:  US PRESIDENT WARREN G. HARDING APPOINTS FORMER PRESIDENT WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT AS CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE US.

To this day, I think the Supreme Court is a joke.

1934:  THE NIGHT OF THE LONG KNIFES - HITLER'S VIOLENT PURGE OF ENEMIES IN GERMANY TAKES PLACE.

The ultimate villain.

1944:  NY MET RON SWOBODA IS BORN.

Still marveling at the catch.

1953:  THE FIRST CHEVROLET CORVETTE ROLLS OFF THE ASSEMBLY LINE IN FLINT, MICHIGAN.

And immediately depreciates.

1956:  A TWA PLANE AND A UNITED AIRLINES COLLIDE ABOVE THE GRAND CANYON IN ARIZONA AND CRASH, KILLING ALL PASSENGERS.

Fly the Unfriendly Skies.

1966:  THE NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR WOMEN, THE US' LARGEST FEMINIST ORGANIZATION, IS FOUNDED.

And so it begins.

1966:  BOXER MIKE TYSON IS BORN.

He didn't have any teeth on that day either.

1972:  THE FIRST LEAP SECOND IS ADDED TO THE TIME SYSTEM.

Now everybody's going to lose a little sleep.

1984:  AUTHOR LILLIAN HELLMAN DIES.

Love her mayonnaise.

1985:  SWIMMER MICHAEL PHELPS IS BORN.

Swam down the birthing canal.

1990:  EAST GERMANY AND WEST GERMANY MERGE THEIR ECONOMIES.

Now was that so hard?

1995:  ACTOR GALE GORDON DIES.

The guy had one act and played it over and over and over.

2003:  COMIC BUDDY HACKETT DIES.

What did he say?

2014:  BASEBALL EXEC FRANK CASHEN DIES.

The architect of the 1986 NY Mets.

2019:  DONALD TRUMP BECOMES THE FIRST SITTING US PRESIDENT TO VISIT THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF KOREA.

Never heard of him.

Dinner last night:  Dodger Dog at the game.

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