A Brief History On June 12, 1939, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum opened in Cooperstown, New York.  The Hall had been established 3 years earlier, and the physical building was dedicated at this time (1939).  Despite the 310 players, umpires, managers, and various officials inducted, their ranks are missing some of the biggest stars of all time. Digging Deeper Pete Rose is the all time major league hits leader, and yet he is refused entry based on his admitted involvement in gambling on baseball games, an activity expressly forbidden in virtually any sport.  Home run kings Mark…

A Brief History On June 12, 1987, Emperor Bokassa, former leader of the Central African Empire, was sentenced to death for atrocities during his reign of 13 years.  At least he was acquitted of cannibalism!  Goofy leaders like Bokassa have appeared throughout history and continue to appear.  Here we list 10 such buffoons, people of massive egos, incredible cruelty, sub-standard intellect, or just plain old buffoonery.  We are talking about goofs that could just as easily be a cartoon character villain.  These guys have pictures of themselves all over their country, statues, too.  Sometimes they declare themselves a god or…

A Brief History We have covered numerous tragedies that have occurred at schools around the world.  This article presents a chronological timeline of the most infamous such incidents in our world’s history. Digging Deeper On May 18, 1927, Andrew Kehoe committed the worst mass murder in an American school ever, proving that this is not just something started recently.  On June 11, 1964, World War II veteran Walter Seifert went on a rampage at a Catholic elementary school outside of Cologne, Germany.  He did not have a gun, but he did have a home-made flamethrower, a mace and a lance! On May 4, 1970, the…

A Brief History On June 11, 1937, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin had eight of his top army generals executed as part of The Great Purge.  From 1934 to 1940 Stalin had vast numbers of government, party, and army officials murdered to satisfy his paranoid delusions that everyone was out to get him.  This purge left his military in bad shape when war came, stripped of many of its most capable officers, but just another day for “The Man of Steel.”  Stalin was a bad person indeed, and although Hitler is generally regarded as the most evil man in history, Uncle Joe gives…

A Brief History On June 11, 323 BC, one of History’s greatest conquerors and generals died at the age of 32, not on the battlefield where he had spent so much time putting his life in danger, but in bed in the Palace of Nebuchadnezzar II in Babylon. Digging Deeper The facts surrounding the death of Alexander the Great are somewhat muddled for so great a personage, but the reality is that the written historical accounts we have of the Macedonian King date from many decades after his death.  How much of his legacy is fact and how much is…