Sports Fact and Book Rec of the Day 9/30/2007

9/30/1967:
In a marquee showdown of the three preeminent Thoroughbreds of the era, Damascus defeats Buckpasser and Dr. Fager by 10 lengths in the Woodward Stakes at Aqueduct. He'll win Horse of the Year honors for 1967; Buckpasser won the award last year and the Doctor will win it next year.

Birthdays:
Robin Roberts b. 1926
Johnny Podres b. 1932
Jamal Anderson b. 1972
Martina Hingis b. 1980
Dominique Moceanu b. 1981

QUIRKY HISTORIES

The life of Florence Baker is the stuff of old-fashioned swashbuckling movies: She was born in Hungary in the mid-1800s, orphaned as a girl, raised in a Turkish harem, auctioned as a slave, then kidnapped by an Englishman who married her and took her to Africa in search of the source of the Nile. The two fell deeply in love with one another and shared a life of adventure as they explored the jungle. To the Heart of the Nile is an amazing story of a woman, her husband, and the continent that bound them together.

TO THE HEART OF THE NILE: LADY FLORENCE BAKER AND THE EXPLORATION OF CENTRAL AFRICA, by Pat Shipman (Harper Paperbacks, 2005)