This Date in History - October 14

Happy "Your Life Is Now Ruined" Day, Steve Bartman.   It happened on this date in 2003.  It took until 2016 for the Cubs to get rid of this latest curse.  

222:  POPE CALLIXTUS I IS KILLED BY A MOB IN ROME AFTER A FIVE YEAR REIGN.  HE IS SUCCEEDED BY CARDINAL URBAN I.

Back when the Pope numbers first started.

1322:  ROBERT THE BRUCE OF SCOTLAND DEFEATS KING EDWARD II, FORCING THE LATTER TO ACCEPT SCOTLAND'S INDEPENDENCE.

Hoot man.

1582:  BECAUSE OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE GREGORIAN CALENDAR, THIS DAY DOES NOT EXIST IN THIS YEAR IN ITALY, POLAND, PORTUGAL, AND SPAIN.

That had to be a problem for those people who manufacture "This Week At a Glance."

1586:  MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS, GOES ON TRIAL FOR CONSPIRACY AGAINST ELIZABETH I OF ENGLAND.

If you're in England, don't ever mess with anybody named Elizabeth.

1656:  MASSACHUSETTS ENACTS THE FIRST PUNITIVE LEGISLATION AGAINST THE QUAKERS, WHO THEY REGARD AS SPIRITUALLY AND POLITICALLY SUBVERSIVE.

Oh, no, not the Quakers!  But who's going to make the oatmeal?

1773:  JUST BEFORE THE BEGINNING OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, SEVERAL OF THE BRITISH EAST INDIA COMPANY TEA SHIPS ARE SET ABLAZE IN MARYLAND.

Ships?   What ships??

1843:  THE BRITISH ARREST THE IRISH NATIONALIST DANIEL O'CONNELL FOR CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT CRIMES.

Can you imagine what they would do to him if he had actually had?

1863: CONFEDERATE TROOPS UNDER GENERAL LEE FAIL TO DRIVE THE UNION ARMY OUT OF VIRGINIA.

Confederates?   Are we allowed to even talk about this part of history any more?

1884:  INVENTOR GEORGE EASTMAN RECEIVES A US GOVERNMENT PATENT ON HIS NEW PAPER STRIP PHOTOGRAPHIC FILM.

Well, that's not a negative.

1890:  DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER IS BORN.

I like Ike.

1893:  ACTRESS LILLIAN GISH IS BORN.

She made it to 100, dying in 1993.

1894:  POET E.E. CUMMINGS IS BORN.

Mr. "I Can't Be Bothered with Capitalizing Anything."

1908:  THE CHICAGO CUBS DEFEAT THE DETROIT TIGERS, CLINCHING THE WORLD SERIES.  IT WOULD BE THEIR LAST ONE TO DATE.

And may the drought continue another century.

1910:  COACH JOHN WOODEN IS BORN.

And here's another one who lasted a whole century.

1912:  WHILE CAMPAIGNING IN MILWAUKEE, FORMER US PRESIDENT TEDDY ROOSEVELT IS SHOT AND MILDLY WOUNDED BY A MENTALLY-DISTURBED SALOON KEEPER.  HE STILL CARRIES OUT HIS SCHEDULED PUBLIC SPEECH.  

But it probably hurt when he talked.

1926:  "WINNIE THE POOH" BY A.A. MILNE IS FIRST PUBLISHED.

Now where's that honey tree?

1933:  NAZI GERMANY WITHDRAWS FROM THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS.

See if we care.

1939:  FASHION DESIGNER RALPH LAUREN IS BORN.

His polo shirts fit me very well.

1941:  BASEBALL STAR ART SHAMSKY IS BORN.

A hero of the 1969 World Champion New York Mets and the one person on Earth that I could probably beat in a foot race.

1944:  LINKED TO A PLOT TO ASSASSINATE ADOLF HITLER, FIELD MARSHALL ERWIN ROMMEL IS FORCED TO COMMIT SUICIDE.

To quote my grandmother..."dumkopf."

1947:  CAPTAIN CHUCK YEAGER OF THE US AIR FORCE FILES AN AIRCRAFT FASTER THAN THE SPEED OF SOUND.  

He had...ahem...the right stuff.

1959:  ACTOR ERROL FLYNN DIES.

He died with his boots on.  Maybe.

1964:  MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. RECEIVES THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE.

And the cash value is?

1967:  FOLK SINGER JOAN BAEZ IS ARRESTED FOR PROTESTING THE VIETNAM WAR IN OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA.

Peace and love and legal fees.

1968:  THE FIRST LIVE TV BROADCAST BY AMERICAN ASTRONAUTS IN ORBIT WAS PERFORMED BY THE APOLLO 7 CREW.

Performing Stupid Astronaut Tricks.

1969:  THE UNITED KINGDOM INTRODUCES THE BRITISH FIFTY-PENCE COIN, WHICH EVENTUALLY REPLACES THE BRITISH TEN-SHILLING NOTE.

Pence and Shilling.  Two coins that eventually became baseball players.

1977:  SINGER BING CROSBY DIES.

"We're off on the road to Heaven."

1979:  THE FIRST EVER GAY RIGHTS MARCH OCCURS IN WASHINGTON, DC.

And it won't be the last.

1982:  US PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN PROCLAIMS A WAR ON DRUGS.

And he started by emptying Nancy's purse.

1990:  CONDUCTOR LEONARD BERNSTEIN DIES.

From "On The Town" to under it.

1997:  AUTHOR HAROLD ROBBINS DIES.

His last novel could be called "The Undertakers."

2003:  CHICAGO CUB FAN STEVE BARTMAN INTERFERES WITH PLAY AND COSTS THE TEAM A CHANCE TO ADVANCE TO THE WORLD SERIES.

Fitting that it happened on the anniversary of the last time they had previously won in 1908.  

2009:  WRESTLER LOU ALBANO DIES.

He used to drive a cab in my home town of Mount Vernon, New York.

Dinner last night:  Leftover pasta.