Sports Fact and Book Rec of the Day 12/15/2007

12/15/1967:
Obtaining a key component of their 1969 world championship team, the New York Mets get center fielder Tommie Agee from the White Sox as part of a six-player deal. Badly burned last winter when they dealt pitcher Dennis Ribant to Pittsburgh for highly touted fly chaser Don Bosch, the Mets get the goods this time as Agee steps in to anchor their outfield with Cleon Jones in left and Ron Swoboda in right. He'll blossom as a productive hitter with an aggregate of 50 homers and 204 runs scored in 1969-70, and his two marvelous running catches in Game 3 of the 1969 World Series will likely never be surpassed in postseason play.

Birthdays:
Joe Walton b. 1935
Nick Buoniconti b. 1940
David Wingate b. 1963
Mo Vaughn b. 1967
Rick Helling b. 1970

HISTORIES

The battle of Salamis is one of the most famous, important battles in history, in which the underdog Greeks successfully repelled an attack by mighty Persia. Strauss reconstructs the battle and its importance to world history using primary sources and archaeological detective work. The result is a dazzling, page-turning look at how one moment in history can have far-reaching effects. Dava Sobel (Longitude) deems the book “as exciting as any modern epic, on a base of astounding detail.”

THE BATTLE OF SALAMIS: THE NAVAL ENCOUNTER THAT SAVED GREECE—AND WESTERN CIVILIZATION, by Barry Strauss (Simon & Schuster, 2005)