Sports Fact and Book Rec of the Day 04/22/2008

4/23/1952:
Bob Feller of the Indians and Bob Cain of the Browns combine for a double one-hitter at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis, but the Browns scratch out a run and win, 1-0. The first batter Feller faces, Bobby Young, hits a triple and later scores on an error by Al Rosen to give Cain all the support he needs. The unique contest reminds old-timers of a similar double one-hitter in 1906 when Mordecai Brown of the Cubs and Lefty Leifield of the Pirates allowed just one safety apiece. As for Feller, it's his MLB record 11th one-hitter but the first one he ever lost.

Birthdays:
Jim Bottomley b. 1900
Warren Spahn b. 1921
Tony Esposito b. 1943
Gail Goodrich b. 1943
Andruw Jones b. 1977

1964:
Ken Johnson, the hard-luck righthanded pitcher of the Houston Colt .45s, allowed no hits in a game against the Cincinnati Reds, but suffered an ignominious fate.

"Johnson did not win. For the unlucky 13th time, his teammates failed to score, and because of two ninth-inning errors, one his own, Johnson and Houston lost 1-0. ... Johnson became the first pitcher in history of baseball to lose a no-hitter in nine innings." -Baseball's Week, May 4, 1964

Packers Fact:
The Packers closed the 2006 regular season by playing each of their NFC North opponents over the final three weeks.

HIGH BARDOLATRY

Helen Vendler, a preeminent poetry critic, gives a close reading to each of Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets and in the process opens them up to our appreciation in ways never before attempted or even thought of. Each poem, printed both in its original form and in a modern English version, is followed by a detailed analysis of the language and structure. If bardolatry is one of your vices, The Art of Shakespeare’s Sonnets can only deepen and expand it. Shakespeare has seldom been better served.

THE ART OF SHAKESPEARE’S SONNETS, by Helen Vendler (Belknap Press, 1999)