Sports Fact and Book Rec of the Day 05/08/08

5/8/1957:
Ted Williams has three home runs off Bob Keegan at Comiskey Park, leading the Red Sox to a 4-1 victory over the White Sox. On June 13, he'll hit three more in a game at Cleveland, becoming the first American Leaguer to hit three homers in one game twice in one season. At age 38, Williams is having a sensational year. He'll win his fifth batting title with a brilliant .388 average and 38 homers. In addition, thanks to his legendary batting eye, he'll draw 119 walks and lead the league in on-base percentage for the 11th time. His lifetime .483 OBP is the highest ever compiled in baseball history.

Birthdays:
Sonny Liston b. 1932
Mike Cuellar b. 1937
Bill Cowher b. 1957
Ronnien Lott b. 1959
Speedy Claxton b. 1978

1968:
Jim "Catfish" Hunter of the Oakland Athletics pitched the American League's first regular-season perfect game in 46 years.

"The 4-0 win was all the more impressive since it was made at the expense of the slugging Minnesota Twins. After the game, Catfish, who had never played in the minors, was razzed by a teammate. "If you'd had any experience," he said, "youmight be pretty good by now." -Peter Carry, May 20, 1968

DARK FICTION

“Instantly powerful . . . studded with alarming signs of the times.”—Janet Maslin, The New York Times

The King is back, after a brief hiatus—darker, gorier, and funnier than ever. The world is overrun by “phonies” whose brains have been wiped out and replaced by a cell phone pulse. The “normies,” such as our hero, illustrator Clayton Riddell, must navigate the postapocalyptic world (notably the lost city once known as Boston) with only their wits and a hefty dose of symbolism.

CELL: A NOVEL, by Stephen King (Scribner, 2006)