A Brief History On November 23, 1948, one of major league baseball’s greatest hitters and onetime highest paid player in the National League died penniless, and no one, not even his own son, would claim the body. Wilson played for the Giants, Cubs, Dodgers and Phillies, but his heyday was with the Cubs. Digging Deeper Lewis Robert “Hack” Wilson was born in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania in 1900, and went on to a short but remarkable baseball career where in 12 years he hit 244 home runs, 1063 RBI’s, and batted .307 for his career. In 1930 Wilson hit 56 home…
Author: Major Dan
Major Dan
Major Daniel Zar is a retired veteran of the United States Marine Corps. He served during the Cold War and has traveled to many countries around the world. Prior to his military service, he graduated from Cleveland State University, having majored in sociology. Following his military service, he worked as a police officer eventually earning the rank of captain prior to his retirement.
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A Brief History On November 22, 1896, George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr., the inventor of the Ferris Wheel, died in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania of Typhoid Fever. Ferris was only 37 years old. Digging Deeper Ferris had been born in 1859 in a town called Galesburg, Illinois, a town founded by George Washington Gale. The Ferris family cleverly named their newborn son after the town’s founder. The Ferris clan moved to Nevada, and Ferris attended the California Military Academy (Oakland) where he graduated in 1876. Ferris was no slouch in the academic department, and graduated from the prestigious Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Connecticut)…
A Brief History On November 21, 164 BC, Judas Maccabeus dedicated the Second Temple in Jerusalem, a restoration of the Temple first built by Solomon on Temple Mount in 957 BC. Temple Mount is the holiest location for people of the Jewish faith, although at this time an Islamic mosque called The Dome of the Rock stands on that location. The dedication of the restored Temple is celebrated by Jews worldwide each year as Hanukkah, The Celebration of Lights. Digging Deeper The first Temple had a trying existence, sacked only a few decades after being built and then restored in…
A Brief History On November 20, 1861, certain representatives of some Kentucky counties calling themselves the Confederate Government of Kentucky seceded from the Union of the United States of America. In honor of this action, a star on the Confederate States of America flag represented the Confederate State of Kentucky. Digging Deeper Well, well, well! Not so fast! The actual legitimate government of Kentucky had no such ideas about seceding from the Union and officially Kentucky, although a slave state, did not secede and join the Confederacy. Obviously sentiments in this “border” state were divided, and officially the State considered…
A Brief History On November 19, 1703, one of History’s most celebrated prisoners died while still in prison, an unidentified man known to us as “The Man in the Iron Mask.” Ironically (even the word “ironically” is ironic in this case!), the mask kept over the prisoner’s face was black velvet, not iron. The iron part of the story came from a work by Voltaire in 1771 when he claimed the mask was an iron one. Voltaire also claimed the man was an illegitimate brother of the French King, Louis XIV. Novelist Alexandre Dumas (he of The Three Musketeers fame)…