Sports Fact and Book Rec of the Day 7/4/2007

Independence Day
7/4/1934:
Satchel Paige delights an overflow crowd of 7,500 fans at Greenlee Field in Pittsburgh by striking out 17 and pitching a no-hitter as the Pittsburgh Crawford blank their Negro League crosstown rivals, the Homestead Grays, 4-0. Unfortunately, the Crawfords' three main stars-Paige, Josh Gibson and Cool Papa Bell-will later jump the club to play in the Dominican Republic for dictator Rafael Trujillo and the team will fold in 1939.

Birthdays:
Al Davis b. 1929
Rick Casares b. 1931
Emerson Boozer b. 1943
Pam Shriver b. 1962
Vinny Castilla b. 1967

Sweet, nostalgic, hilarious—Jean Shepherd goes home to small-town Indiana and reminisces about his American boyhood with his old pal, and bartender, Flick. It’s a book filled with county fairs and fishing and BB guns, of childhood secret societies and harmless pranks and nosy neighbors. If you like Garrison Keillor and you don’t know Jean Shepherd, you are in for a delight.

IN GOD WE TRUST: ALL OTHERS PAY CASH, by Jean Shepherd (1966; Main Street Books, 1991)