Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 5/12/2007

5/12/1961:
Detroit outfielder Rocky Colavito climbs into the stands at Yankee Stadium to defend his father and his wife against some obnoxious fans in the eighth inning of an eventual 4-3 Tiger victory. The hecklers are briskly removed, Colavito must be ejected by rule and Detroit wins behind Frank Lary (28-13 lifetime vs. the Yankees), who scatters 11 hits and wins his own game with a ninth-inning home run.

Birthdays:
Yogi Berra b. 1925
Felipe Alou b. 1935
Johnny Bucyk b. 1935
George Karl b. 1951
Lou Whitaker b. 1957

THRILLERS

An old-fashioned thriller with big characters, an exotic backdrop, and plenty of dangerous action, Smith’s Elephant Song takes readers into the African rain forest where a documentary producer battles ivory poachers. Add to the mix traders from Europe and the Far East, a love interest, a murder, and angry tribal chieftains, and you have a glamorous, clamorous, rip-roaring read ahead of you that the Chicago Tribune calls “sweeping and majestic.”

ELEPHANT SONG, by Wilbur Smith (Fawcett, 1995)