Events June 19 1846 - The first organized baseball game was played on this day. The location was Hoboken, New Jersey. The New York Baseball Club defeated the Knickerbocker Club, 23 to 1. This first game was only four innings long. The New York Nine, as the winners were known, must have really studied the rules to have twenty-three runs batted in. The rules had been formulated just one year earlier by a Mr. Alexander Cartwright, Jr. 1865 - It took more than two-and-a-half years after Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation went into effect for Union troops to land in Galveston, Texas. They carried the message of freedom, the resolution of the Civil War between the States, to the many slaves throughout Texas. Union Major General Gordon Granger read General Order #3: “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.” The slaves rejoiced with cheers and tears as they learned of their liberation, calling their “day of deliverance,” Juneteenth, a day still celebrated by black families and communities throughout the world. 1911 - The first motion-picture censorship board was established -- in Pennsylvania. 1912 - The United States government adopted a new rule for all working folks. It established an 8-hour work day. Watch that lunch break, though. You never know if someone from the government might be clocking you... 1934 - The U.S. Congress established the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The task of the commission was to regulate radio and (later) TV broadcasting. 1936 - Max Schmeling knocked out Joe Louis in the 12th round of their heavyweight boxing match. The German boxer earned his victory at Yankee Stadium in New York. 1943 - The National Football League approved the merger of the Philadelphia Eagles and the Pittsburgh Steelers (the Steagles), a team that lasted one 5-4-1 season; but turned down approval of a similar merger of the Chicago Cardinals and the Bears. The following year the Steelers merged with the Cardinals, another one season combo. The reason teams were merging in the 1940s: so many men were in the armed forces due to WWII, football players were at a premium. 1946 - The first championship prizefight to be televised was seen by boxing fans. Joe Louis tangled with Billy Conn in New York City. To see the fight in person, incidentally, would have cost you $100. 1952 - CBS-TV debuted one of television’s most popular hits, I’ve Got a Secret. Garry Moore was the first host, from 1952 to 1964. Steve Allen was next (1964 to 1967) and moderated a syndicated version in the 1972-1973 season. Bill Cullen hosted the attempted comeback of the show in 1976. Panelists included Allen’s wife, Jayne Meadows; Bill Cullen, Henry Morgan, Betsy Palmer, Faye Emerson, Melville Cooper and Orson Bean. 1965 - I Can’t Help Myself, by The Four Tops, topped the pop and R&B charts. The Motown group got their second and only other number one hit with Reach Out I’ll Be There in 1966. Their other hits include: It’s the Same Old Song, Standing in the Shadows of Love, Bernadette and Ain’t No Woman (Like the One I’ve Got) (their only million seller). The group called Motown (Detroit, MI) home and got their start in 1953 as the Four Aims. Levi Stubbs, Renaldo ‘Obie’ Benson, Lawrence Payton and Abdul ‘Duke’ Fakir placed 24 hits on the charts from 1964 to 1988. They first recorded as The Four Tops for Leonard Chess and Chess Records in 1956; then went to Red Top and Columbia before signing with Berry Gordy’s Motown label in 1963. The Tops, who had no personnel changes in their more than 35 years together were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. 1973 - Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds reached the 2,000-career-hit plateau. The milestone came a decade after his first professional baseball appearance in Cincinnati. 1973 - National Hockey League record-holder Gordie Howe of the Detroit Red Wings jumped leagues to join his sons, Mark and Marty, on the Houston Aeros (of the rival World Hockey Association). In doing so, Howe accepted a $1,000,000, four-year contract. 1981 - Superman II set the all-time, one-day record for theatre box-office receipts. Moviegoers forked over $5.5 million to see Christopher Reeve as the man of steel. The three-day record was also shattered on June 21st, 1981, when a total gross of $14 million was collected. 1985 - Take heart, duffers! Angelo Spagnolo shot an incredible 257 -- that’s two-hundred, fifty-seven strokes -- to win the Worst Avid Golfer’s Tournament held at Ponte Vedra, FL. He earned the title of America’s Worst Recreational Hacker for the effort. He lost 60 golf balls, got a 66 on the 17th hole, and hit 27 balls into the water! 1992 - Batman returned in Batman Returns. He was welcomed by Americans with their wallets open ($45.69 million) that first weekend. 1998 - The X Files: Fight the Future opened in the U.S. David Duchovny (FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder) and Gillian Anderson (Agent Dana Scully) starred. And they fought despicable demons who were employed by the government, just as they have had to do so often in the TV series. The X Files: Fight the Future opened in 2,629 theaters nationwide, grossing a not-so-despicable $30.14 million the first weekend. 1998 - 28-year-old Rick Schroder signed on with ABC’s NYPD Blue as Detective Danny Sorenson. Young Schroder/Sorenson stepped into the opening created by the painful death of Detective Bobby Simone/Jimmy Smits. 1999 - Horror king/author Stephen King was was run down from behind by a van while walking on the shoulder of a road near his house in Maine. Motorist Brian Smith apparently lost control of his Dodge Caravan (he said his dog distracted him). King suffered a collapsed lung, 2 fractures of his right leg below the knee, a
Posted on: Wed, 19 Jun 2013 18:50:55 +0000
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