Browsing: February 9

A Brief History On February 9, 1971, baseball pitcher Leroy “Satchel” Paige was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, the first player from the Negro Leagues so honored.  Paige had starred in the Negro Leagues during the years before Jackie Robinson broke the “color barrier” in major league baseball in 1947 when African Americans were not allowed to play in the major leagues.  In 1948, Paige became the oldest major league rookie at the age of 42 when he debuted for the Cleveland Indians.  In honor of Paige’s achievements and in recognition of February, the annual Black History Month…

A Brief History On February 9, 2018, we at History and Headlines take a moment to ponder the imponderable: Where do all these “National Days” come from? We found all sorts of references to February 9th being National Toothache Day and also National Read in the Bathtub Day, but no record of when or where these “holidays” started! Digging Deeper National Toothache Day is not so ridiculous as to actually celebrate having a toothache, one of the most painful conditions known to humankind (which can also be life threatening), but rather a day to remind people of proper oral hygiene.…

A Brief History On February 9, 1825, the United States of America had the only incident (so far) of no presidential candidate winning a majority of the Electoral votes in a presidential election, forcing the House of Representatives to elect our next president. Digging Deeper The presidential election of 1824 had been contentious, which is how these things usually are!  In this election there were four major candidates instead of the usual two.  Presidential elections often have numerous obscure candidates, but only rarely does a third or fourth party candidate garner enough votes to actually win an electoral vote.  Senator…

A Brief History On February 9, 2001, the U.S. Navy nuclear submarine USS Greeneville (SSN 772) accidentally sank the Japanese training fishing vessel Ehime Maru on board which were some high school students. Digging Deeper The Greeneville had been conducting maneuvers of the coast of Honolulu, Hawaii with guests aboard, mostly big-money donors to the Battleship Missouri Memorial at Pearl Harbor.  In the course of conducting an emergency main ballast tank blow and ascent, the nuclear sub came up underneath the Ehime Maru in a terrific collision that smashed the hapless fishing boat and sank it within 10 minutes.  Japanese losses were 9…

A Brief History February 9, 1959 opened a new and scary chapter in the atomic age when the U.S.S.R. fielded the first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) armed with a nuclear warhead, the R-7 Semyorka. Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find the United States (and allies) and the U.S.S.R. (and its allies) engaged in a scary Cold War from the end of World War II until 1991 when the U.S.S.R. finally disintegrated. The reason for the scariness can be summed up in one word: Nukes!  The prospect of total nuclear war was sobering, since mutual nuclear destruction could actually have ended…