Dave Righetti was named the American League Rookie of the Year, earning 91% of the vote over Boston’s Rich Gedman. On November 10, 1978 Righetti was traded to the Yankees from Texas, who had drafted him as their 10th overall pick the year before. In January 1979 he was very close to being sent to Minnesota as part of a deal that would have brought Rod Carew to the Bronx in exchange for Chris Chambliss, Juan Beniquez, Dámaso García and Righetti. The deal fell threw and Righetti returned to the minor leagues before being brought up in 1981 as a permanent starter. In 1981 he led the American League in ERA, hits per 9 innings, home runs per 9 innings and strikeouts per 9 innings while helping the Yankees reach the World Series.

Dave Righetti’s 1981 Statistics:

8-4 | 2.05 ERA | 2 CG | 24 ER | 1 HR | 38 BB | 89 SO | 1.073 WHIP | 6.4 H/9 | .1 HR/9 | 7.6 SO/9

Dave Righetti

The Yankees signed free agent outfielder Reggie Jackson to a 5-year, $2.96 million contract. The number 9 he had worn in Oakland and Baltimore was already being used by Graig Nettles so he requested #42 in honor of Jackie Robinson, but Art Howler, the recently hired pitching coach had already taken the number. Jackson finally settled on #44 in honor of the recently retired Hank Aaron. Jackson arrived amid controversy when he was quoted as saying he was “the straw that stirs the drink” during a conversation with SPORT magazine writer Robert Ward during spring training, implying that he was now the most integral part of the Yankees. It was hard to argue with that statement when in the last game of the 1977 season Jackson homered on three consecutive pitches to seal a World Series clinching victory in Game 6 vs. the Dodgers. Jackson’s #44 was retired by the Yankees in 1993, the same year he was inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Reggie Jackson’s Yankee Statistics 1977-1981:

380 R | 661 H | 115 2B | 14 3B | 144 HR | 461 RBI | 41 SB | 326 BB | .281 BA | .371 OBP | .526 SLG

Joe DiMaggio edged out Ted Williams for the American League MVP award, his second in three years. Though the “Splendid Splinter” famously had a .406 batting average during the ‘41 season, it was DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak that seemed to weigh more heavily with the voters as the “Yankee Clipper” beat out Williams 291-254. DiMaggio led the league in RBIs while Williams led in runs, home runs, walks and of course, batting average.

Joe DiMaggio’s 1941 Season Statistics:

122 R | 193 H | 43 2B | 11 3B | 30 HR | 125 RBI | 76 BB | 13 SO | .357 BA | .440 OBP | .643 SLG

Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio at Fenway Park.

Thurman Munson was named the American League Rookie of the Year in a near unanimous vote over Cleveland’s Roy Foster. Behind the plate he committed only 8 errors with a fielding percentage of .989. He also threw out 52% of base-stealers and made 80 assists. At the plate his batting average was the best on the team. 1970 was a foreshadowing of Munson’s later greatness in a career that was tragically cut short.

Thurman Munson’s 1970 Statistics:

59 R | 137 H | 25 2B | 4 3B | 6 HR | 53 RBI | 57 BB | 56 SO | .302 BA | .386 OBP

Mickey Mantle wins his 2nd consecutive American League Most Valuable Player Award, beating out Ted Williams 233-209. The Mick let the leauge in runs and walks hit into a league-low 5 double plays. His batting average was a career-high .365, second behind Ted Williams’ remarkable .388. Mantle also reached base more times than he made an out (319 to 312) one of two seasons in which he would accomplish that incredible feat.

Mickey Mantle’s 1957 Statistics:

121 R | 173 H | 28 2B | 6 3B | 34 HR | 94 RBI | 146 BB | .365 BA | .512 OBP | .665 SLG

Mickey Mantle

On November 20, 1934 the New York Yankees obtained Joe DiMaggio from the San Francisco Seals, a minor league baseball team, for $50,000. During DiMaggio’s 1933 campaign with the Seals he hit safely in 61 straight games, a foreshadowing of his later milestone with the Yankees.

DiMaggio crosses home plate for the Seals.

On this day in 1985 Don Mattingly became the first player from a non-championship team to win the American League Most Valuable Player Award, beating out Kansas City’s George Brett 367-274. He led the league in doubles, RBIs, extra-base hits (86), and sacrifice flies, and total bases. At the time his 145 runs batted in was the most by a left-handed hitter since Ted Williams had 159 in 1949. He was second in the league in hits and slugging percentage, third in batting average, and fourth in home runs. “Donnie Baseball” was the first farm-grown Yankee to lead the team in home runs since Bobby Murcer did it from 1970-1973. Mattingly sparkled on the field as well, winning his first of 9 Gold Glove Awards.

Don Mattingly’s 1985 Statistics:

107 R | 211 H | 48 2B | 3 3B | 35 HR | 145 RBI | 56 BB | .324 BA | .371 OBP | .567 SLG | 15 SF

"Donnie Baseball"

Pitcher Stan Bahnsen was named the American League Rookie of the Year, receiving 85% of the vote over the Washington Senators’ Del Unser. His great season includes a 3-hit, 12-strikeout, no-walk shutout vs. Boston at Fenway Park. His 2.05 ERA is the best on the team.

1968 Statistics:

17-12 Record | 2.05 ERA | 10 CG | 267.1 IP | 216 H | 61 ER | 68 BB | 162 SO | 0.5 H/9 | 2.38 SO/BB

On this day in Yankee history the first stage of the largest trade in history was completed. On November 18, 1954 Don Larsen, Bob Turley and Billy Hunter left the Baltimore Orioles for the Big Apple in exchange for Harry Byrd, Jim MacDonald, Hal Smith, Gus Triandos, Gene Woodling, and Willie Miranda. The deal was later finalized on December 1 with eight more players changing allegiances.

Yogi Berra leaps into the arms of Don Larsen after Larsen pitches a perfect game in the 1956 World Series.

LNF*

• Elephants are the only animals that can’t jump.

• Americans on the average eat 18 acres of pizza every day.

• On average people fear spiders more than they do death.

• Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour.

• The liquid inside young coconuts can be used as substitute for blood plasma.

• Dentists have recommended that a toothbrush be kept at least 6 feet away from a toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush.

• American car horns beep in the tone of F.

• Donkeys kill more people annually than plane crashes.

• Barbie’s full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts.

• On average, 100 people choke to death on ball-point pens every year.

• 7% of Americans will eat McDonalds today.

• All porcupines float in water.

• In Muncie, Indiana, it is illegal to carry fishing tackle in a cemetery.

LNFs on This Day:

1865 – Samuel L. Clemens published “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” under the pen name “Mark Twain” in the New York “Saturday Press.”

1928 – The first successful sound-synchronized animated cartoon premiered in New York. It was Walt Disney’s “Steamboat Willie,” starring Mickey Mouse.

1978 – In Jonestown, Guyana, Reverend Jim Jones persuaded his followers to commit suicide by drinking a death potion. Some people were shot to death. 914 cult members were left dead including over 200 children.

1987 – U2 opened for itself by pretending to be a country-rock group called The Dalton Brothers during a concert in Los Angeles

1994 – Cab Calloway died at the age of 86.

*Why LNF? Why Plain White Shirt? Read Rorschach’s Ribs and all will be understood.

Holcomb Kansas is one of those places you’d miss if you blinked. A small farming community in America’s heartland, it was not prepared for what happened 50 years ago on the night of November 15, 1959. It was a town where murder was an unknown word. A town where people got up and went to bed with the sun and never worried about locking their doors. A town where children could walk to school and nothing bad would come their way. A town where the Clutter family became part of American criminal history.

By all accounts Herb Clutter was a hard-working, decent man. He lived in a modest home on a working farm with his wife Bonnie and their two teenage children, 16-year-old Nancy and 15-year-old Kenyon. Mr. Clutter apparently hired transient workers from time to time to help out around the farm and this act of kindness led to his family being massacred on that dark night.

After the family had turned in for the night, Dick Hickock and Perry Smith entered their world. It seems that Hickok. a recent prison parolee, had heard a rumor from a fellow inmate that a man named Clutter had a safe stuffed with money. That wasn’t true, but Hickok believed it to be. He recruited Perry Smith into his murderous scheme in which he repeatedly said that they would leave no witnesses. They didn’t.

Perry Smith (Top) and Dick Hickock

Once in the home, they cut the phone line and tied up the entire family, each in a separate room. They demanded that Herb Clutter open his safe. Mr. Clutter said that he had no safe and did not keep money in his house. They didn’t believe him but their search turned up nothing except for one of the children’s piggy bank.

Hickock then told Smith to kill the entire family. He first attempted to cut Herb Clutter’s throat but this didn’t go well. He shot Clutter with a shotgun and then moved from room to room killing the rest of the family. Smith and Hickock were ultimately captured and brought to trial with the major forensic evidence against them being a bloody boot print.

Truman Capote, fresh off his success with Breakfast at Tiffany’s, read about the case in the newspaper and decided he would write an article for New York magazine on how these brutal murders affected a small town America. He went there, along with his longtime, childhood friend in Monroeville, Alabama Harper Lee (To Kill A Mockingbird), to investigate the story.

Harper Lee receives Presidential Medal of Freedom

The murders not only turned the town of Holcomb upside down, they also affected Capote so much that the article became a novel and the novel transformed literature. It would be the last novel he ever completed.

Capote was an arrogant and self-absorbed jerk but he was a great writer. He boldly stated that his book based on this murder, which he titled In Cold Blood, would revolutionize the way novels were written. He was right. It created an entirely new genre. He called it faction. Today we would call it creative nonfiction.

The book created great controversy on several fronts. Many were dismayed that Capote used fictional elements in what was a true crime story. He was accused of manipulating the facts for his own purposes. Kenneth Tynan, in his review for The Observer, went further. He accused Capote of using Smith and Hickock for their information about the killings but then did not help them with their defense as much as he should have. He felt that Capote actually wanted the pair executed so he would have an ending to his story. This controversy remains unsettled.

In Cold Blood is without doubt one of the best crime novels ever written and at the same time one of the best true crime stories you’ll ever read. If you have not read it do yourself a favor. The story is compelling, the writing even more so.

This is hilarious! A Bush think tank! lol!

In a speech at the institute today, Bush announced “The center will be a platform for us to continue our public service for the rest of our lives.”

Great. How about helping out another country for a while. America can’t survive any more of your help.

He said the institute will deal with an array of public policy issues, foreign and domestic, focusing on four broad areas including education, global health, freedom, and economic growth.

Well, since Bush is ALWAYS wrong, all we have to do is do the opposite.

Source

Frederick Orpen Bower was born in Ripon, Yorkshire on this day in 1855. After studying at Trinity College Cambridge and the Universities of Würzburg and Strasbourg, he became one of the leading botanists of his day – specialising in the study of ferns and other primitive land plants.

In 1880 he entered University College London where he worked alongside Thomas Henry Huxley, amongst others. In 1885, at just 29, he became Regius Professor of Botany in the University of Glasgow – where he stayed for 40 years.

Bower’s research contributed greatly to our understanding of the origins and evolution of ferns, and to palaeobotany in general; publishing The Origin of a Land Flora in 1908 and The Ferns from 1923 to 1928. He developed the idea of the alternation of generations in land plants (a 2-phase life cycle incorporating a haploid gametophyte generation and a diploid sporophyte generation).

Bower actively enjoyed teaching and built Glasgow up into a major centre of botanical research. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1891, was president of the Royal Society of Edinburgh from 1919 to 1924, and of the British Association in 1930. He was also awarded honorary degrees by the universities of Cambridge, Dublin, Sydney, Aberdeen and Glasgow.

Bower retired from Glasgow in 1925, and died at Ripon on 11th April 1948 aged 92.