Thursday, September 20, 1973. The Battle of the Sexes and the Death of Jim Croce.

"The Battle of the Sexes" took place in the Houston Astrodome between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs. King won three straight sets.

King and Riggs prior to the match.

This event was a big deal at the time, and I can recall my parents watching the television coverage of it.  It's always seemed odd to me as Riggs, who had been a tennis great in his youth, was well past his prime, while King was in hers.  Riggs, however, was quite the promoter and much of the attention can be attributed to that.

It was, up until that point, the most watched tennis match of all time.

Jim Croce, age 30, was killed along with five others when a chartered Beechcraft E18S hit a tree during takeoff from the Natchitoches Regional Airport in Louisiana.  

Croce was a well known pop singer at the time.  When in grade school, one year we had to learn his Time In A Bottle song for a performance of some sort.  Perhaps it's for that reason, but I've never liked that song since then, and I didn't like it then.  Or maybe its just the song.  I have always liked his Leroy Brown song.

Thursday, September 20, 1923. Showdown in Oklahoma.

The Governor of Oklahoma and its legislature were in a toe to toe contest over whether the Governor's mobilization of the National Guard over the KKK was warranted.

This is an historical episode of which I was wholly unaware, and quite extraordinary.  While it was late in coming, the Governor was reacting to racial violence in the state by deploying the National Guard under what was essentially an act of declaring martial law. The legislature clearly was upset by the act and intended to convene to address it, and the Governor himself.

A Communist led revolt broke out in Bulgaria.

The Yankees took the American League pennant, beating the St. Louis Browns 4 to 3.

Sunday, September 19, 1943. Wars within the war.

The Markham, Ramu and Finisterre campaigns on New Guinea began with an Allied offensive in the Ramu Valley.

The Ramu Valley campaign would continue on through November, with the overall campaign carrying on until April 1944.

The Battle of Turjak Castle in Slovenia ended in a Slovene partisan victory against the Anti Communist Volunteer Militia, formerly allied to the Italian Army.  Part of the wars within the war feature of World War Two.

German forces and Cham Albanians began the Paramythia executions of Greeks in Paramythia.

Lebanese Maronite Christian leader Bechara El Khoury met with Lebanese Sunni Muslim senior politician Riad Al Solh and worked out the National Pact.  Under it, an arrangement was arrived upon in which a free Lebanon would have a Christian President and a Muslim Prime Minister.

The St. Louis Cardinals took the National League pennat with a 2 to 1 victory over the Chicago Cubs.

Friday, September 14, 1923. Dempsey v. Firpo.

Jack Dempsey defended his heavyweight title successfully in a dramatic fight at the Polo Grounds.  His opponent was Luis Angel Firpo.

At times during the fight, which only went two rounds, Firpo more than held his own.  He brought Dempsey to one knee in the first round and actually caused Dempsey to fall out of the ring at one point.  Dempsey, however, knocked Firpo out in the second round.

Classic Boxing Society: September 14, 1923. Fight fans gather around the ...: September 14, 1923. Fight fans gather around the bleacher entrance at the Polo Grounds, New York - waiting patiently to see the 'Bull&...

He went on to be a rancher, although he kept a hand in the sport of boxing, jointly managing a fighter he found with Dempsey at one point.  He died in 1960 at age 65.

Saturday, September 1, 1923. The Great Kantō Earthquake (関東大地震).

An earthquake struck Tokyo, measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale, that killed over 120,000 people.

Much of that would have been due to construction conditions. 

Nihonbashi and Kanda seen from the roof of Dai-ichi Sogo building.

President Coolidge sent a message to the Emperor of Japan as a result of the earthquake

Washington, September 1, 1923.

At the moment when the news of the great disaster which has befallen the people of Japan is being received I am moved to offer you in my own name and in that of the American people the most heartfelt sympathy and to express to your Majesty my sincere desire to be of any possible assistance in alleviating the terrible suffering to your people.

Calvin Coolidge

The League of Nations met to discuss Italian aggression at Corfu.  Italy let the League know that it would ignore the League.

Rocco Marchegiano, better known as Rocky Marcianao, was born in Brockton, Massachusetts.

September 1, 1923.

 

Thursday, August 26, 1943. War bond baseball.

$800,000,000 worth of War Bonds were sold for an exhibition baseball game that features seven of the then twelve living members of the Baseball Hall of Fame; Babe Ruth, Walter Johnson, Tris Speaker, Honus Wagner, Eddie Collins, George Sisler, and Connie Mack as the manager.

The event also featured entertainment from James Cagney, Ethel Merman, Cab Calloway, Milton Berle, Joe E. Lewis, Carole Landis and Ralph Bellamy.

Babe Ruth hit his last home run during the game, more of which can be read about here:

1943 All Pacific Recreation Fund – Service All-Stars vs Los Angeles & Hollywood

The 800 million dollars was equivalent to over 10.7 billion dollars in current funds.

The Germans occupied the Alpine passes with Italy in anticipation of the Italians surrendering.

The USSR recognized Egypt.

The US, Canada and British governments give limited recognition to the Free French Committee of National Liberation.

Friday, August 24, 1923. "Cross Country Flight Record Is Shattered"

A photographer caught some Maine Corps scenes.

 

The United States Coal Commission met.

Wednesday, July 4, 1923. Boxing, Parades and Sabotogue.

Then, as now, it was the 4th of July holiday, and all the usual events occured, including parades and events of all sorts.

This event happened at Takoma Park, Maryland.

In the West, numerous rodeos were held, but in Shelby, Montana, something else was tried Jack Dempsey fought Tommy Gibbons.  

Shelby was a small oil town and only about 7,000 of the 20,000 spectators paid to see the fight, causing a large financial loss to the promoters.  Some of the deficit, like that of the much later major event of Woodstock, would be made up by promoting a movie of the event.

A crowd of up to 200,000 attended a Ku Klux Klan rally in Kokomo, Indiana in what may have been the largest rally in its history.

The Klan was very strong in Indiana at the time.

Stunt pilot B. H. DeLay died when his plane, later thought to be sabotaged, crashed.  Passenger R. I. Short also died in the event, which occured at Venice, California..  DeLay had been involved in a heated dispute over an airport, but no suspects were ever arrested for sabotage to his plane.

Sunday, June 27, 1922. Bishop O'Rourke of the East passes away, Disaster at Huntington Beach, Lousy German troops.

The unlikely named former Catholic Bishop of Riga and later Bishop of Danzia, an opponent of the Nazis, died at age 66, in Rome, where he was living in exile.

Born in Minsk to a family of Irish heritage, which was also unlikely, he had resigned his position in Riga as a movement for a Latvian Bishop gained strength.  He clashed with the Nazis in Danzig, which had ultimately led to his relocation to Poland, where he was granted Polish citizenship.  When the Germans invaded Poland, he was on a journey to Estonia, and ultimately traveled to Italy.  He was not able to regain admittance to German occupied Poland.

A P-38 Lightening crashed into a crowd of beach goers at Huntington Beach, California, after its pilot had bailed out. Three people lost their lives and forty nine were injured.

Sarah Sundin noted that event, and others, on her blog:

Today in World War II History—June 27, 1943: French Resistance attacks Ateliers des Fives locomotive works at Lille. P-38 Lightning fighter plane crashes on Huntington Beach in CA, killing 4 children.

As odd as it is to consider that it even occurred, the 1943  German football championship was won by Dresdner SC.

Bill Downs, CBS Moscow correspondent, reported that Red Army troops were surprised by hte quantity of lice that captured German soldiers bore.

Monday at the Bar: The best of both worlds: Rodeo and law live side by side in the life of CNFR competitor

 

The best of both worlds: Rodeo and law live side by side in the life of CNFR competitor

Saturday, June 19, 1943. Internees released, Murders planned at Obersalzberg, Eagles and Steelers merge.

Japanese American servicemen of the 442 Regimental Combat Team at a dance, June 1943.

On this day in 1943 a large number of Heart Mountain internees were released for seasonal employment or on indefinite leave.

Hitler summoned Himmler to Obersalzberg to discuss ending all Jewish resistance in Easter Europe over the next four months by mass evacuation, which of course would ultimately entail mass extermination, of the Eastern European Jewish population.  

This implicitly acknowledged, it should be noted, declining German fortunes on the Eastern Front.

The Philadelphia Eagles and the Pittsburgh Steelers combined into a single wartime team, due to wartime manpower shortages.

Monday, June 11, 1923. Fires In Philadelphia! Near Disaster at Washington D.C. Pier! Turks pay in Paper! Casper's water dangerous! Foreign crews booze it up! Supreme Court opts for beauty!

Wow, what a set of headlines.

The station disaster was indeed bad:

The link to that photo, which is directly linked in, notes in the caption that:

The Pennsylvania’s giant Broad Street Station in Center City Philadelphia suffered a major fire on June 11, 1923. Train service was quickly restored, but the 16-track trainshed had to be removed.

PRR photo

More on that event; here.

The United States Supreme Court, which traditionally issues a set of opinions in June, issued one in Rindge Co. v. County of Los Angeles, holding that a local government could use its power of eminent domain to take land from a private landowner for the specific purpose of building a scenic highway.

Good for them.

This established a precedent still in effect today. 

In his opinion, Justice Edward T. Sanford, writing for the whole court (8, one abstaining), stated:

Public uses are not limited, in the modern view, to matters of mere business necessity and ordinary convenience, but may extend to matters of public health, recreation and enjoyment. Thus, the condemnation of lands for public parks is now universally recognized as a taking for public use. A road need not be for a purpose of business to create a public exigency; air, exercise and recreation are important to the general health and welfare; pleasure travel may be accommodated as well as business travel; and highways may be condemned to places of pleasing natural scenery.

I'm sure that in today's Wyoming, this would be regarded in some quarters as an outrage.

Lou Gehrig was introduced as a player for the Yankees.

Friday, June 9, 1923. Earl Smith, New York Giants

 

Sunday, June 6, 1943. Radio broadcasts, Triple Crown, Actor in the Navy, Rohatyn Ghetto.

The French Committee of National Liberation made a radio broadcast pledging to abolish the "arbitrary powers" imposed by the Vichy regime and restore French liberties and republican government.

Count Fleet won the Belmont, and hence the Triple Crown.

Paul Newman, having enlisted days before his 18th birthday, was called up for service in the Navy.

Newman wanted to be a pilot, but was taken out of flight school when it was discovered he was color blind.  He went on to be a torpedo bomber crewman.

Sarah Sundin noted Newman's enlistment, but also noted the A36:

Today in World War II History—June 6, 1943: North American A-36 Apache flies first combat mission in a US Twelfth Air Force mission to Pantelleria. Future actor Paul Newman enlists in the US Navy, age 18.

We don't think much of the A-36, the dive bomber version of the P-51.  The odd aircraft only came into existence in the first place as the 1942 appropriations for new fighter aircraft had run out and converting the assembly line to dive bombers kept the P-51 line open.  Only 500 were built, with most used by the U.S. Army Air Force, but some used by the RAF.

A-36 in Italy.

The Germans liquidated the Rohatyn Ghetto in what is now Ukraine.

A Manly Pastime - A Baseball History Blog : What Price Historical Accuracy?

A Manly Pastime - A Baseball History Blog : What Price Historical Accuracy?: Every game of vintage baseball has its own challenges.  On Saturday at the Howell Living History Farm near Lambertville, NJ there were two -...

Wednesday, June 2, 1943. Lwów Ghetto brougth to an end.

The Germans completed the liquidation of the Lwów Ghetto in Poland.  The city, which once contained a population of 160,000 Jewish Poles, is now in Ukraine and known as Lviv. It had been contested for in the Polish Ukrainian War.  During that battle, the Jewish population of the town had formed its own militia.

Sarah Sundin notes in her blog:

Today in World War II History—June 2, 1943: Combat debut of US 99th Fighter Squadron, the first Black unit in the Army Air Force (“Tuskegee Airmen”), in a Twelfth Air Force mission to Pantelleria.

And, a link from another blog we follow:

June 2, 1943: The Death of Nile Kinnick

Sunday, May 30, 1943. Clash in Los Angeles.

A clash between servicemen and Mexican American Zoot Suiters set the stage for the Zoot Suit Riots that would erupt several days later.

The conflict, like so many over the centuries, erupted in a contest for the potential affection of women who were nearby.  They commenced when a sailor, fearing he was going to be attacked, grabbed the arm of a Zoot Suiter and was badly attacked himself.

The All-American Girls Baseball League began its first 108-game season with four teams (Rockford, Kenosha, Racine, and South Bend).

Tuesday May 22, 1923. Baldwin rises, Cavalry Bandits caputured, Bryan Anti Evolution Measure voted down, Mark falls, D.C. Golf.

 

Stanley Baldwin became the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom following Bonar Law stepping down due to rapidly failing health.

The Distillery Bandits, who were apprehended after a gun battle, were all veterans of the U.S. Army's cavalry branch.

William Jennings's Bryan's motion that the Presbyterian General Assembly cut off financial support for any Presbyterian body teaching evolution was voted down.

The Mark dropped enormously.

The President played in a newspaper golf tournament.

James Brown

There's been a lot of news on the passing of Jim Brown, the legendary running back.

Brown was a fantastic running back, and even in old clips it's impressive to watch him.  A nice retrospective of his life appears here:

Jim Brown, 1936-2023

I'll be frank, the thing that stands out in my mind about Brown were the allegations of assault against him, and then his featuring as one of the people, like Bill Cosby, that frequented the Playboy mansion in the big party days of that depraved institution.  That's hard to get around, and the stories that were related in the Secrets of Playboy are pretty much impossible for me to get around. 

One thing I didn't know about Brown was that he'd been commissioned into the Army Reserve and ultimately made Captain.  He enrolled in ROTC while in university and was inducted into the Army ROTC Hall of Fame (which I didn't know existed) some years ago.  Perhaps that military experience is why he appeared to be a natural in uniform in The Dirty Dozen.

So what to make of Brown and his life?  Well, I don't really have to make anything of it, but perhaps with such notable public figures we should.  His accomplishments were very real and cannot be denied.  He did act as a champion for civil rights, using his fame for that purpose.  He did translate a successful football career into other successful endeavors.  Like Bill Cosby, he's associated with the deprivations of the celebration of sexual exploitation brought about by the Sexual Revolution and advanced by Hugh Hefner.  Perhaps that's proof of just how corrosive the tolerance of that institution and acceptance of its perversion has been.

Saturday, May 19, 1923. Double Standards.

Lenin's USSR, which was ostensibly for the rights of small nations, executed the principal leaders of the Georgian Committee for the Independence of Georgia.

Georgia's flag.

Zev won the Kentucky Derby.  H was owned by Harry F. Sinclair of the Sinclair Oil Company.

Italian women marched for suffrage in Rome.