Sports Fact and Book Rec of the Day 5/28/2008

5/28/2004:
Only hours after his wife gave birth to a bouncing baby boy, Rob Mackowiak of the Pittsburgh Pirates has a memorable day at PNC Park in a twi-night doubleheader against the Cubs. In the first game, Mackowiak hits a walk-off grand-slam homer in the ninth inning for a 9-5 Pirates victory. In the nightcap, he hits another ninth-inning homer, which merely serves to tie the game. Craig Wilson follows with a homer in the 10th as the Buccos sweep. The versatile Mackowiak has his best year in 2004. He plays 155 games, appearing at five different positions with 17 homers and 75 RBIS.

Birthdays:
Jim Thorpe b. 1888
Red Horner b. 1909
Jerry West b. 1938
Terry Crisp b. 1943
Kirk Gibson b. 1957

1951:
The New York Giants rookie centerfielder Willie Mays collected his first major league hit, a home run off the Boston Braves' Warren Spahn. Mays had gone hitless in his first 28 at bats.

"The crowd ... leaped up and roared and cheered as though Willie had just won the World Series. It was a strange, tingly thing to be a part of, because all that the crowd was saying, really was "Welcome, Willie, we've been waiting all our lives for you."" -Robert Creamer, April 8, 1963

Packers Fact:
The Packers set a Lambeau Field record when they drew 70,918 fans to their season opener against the Bears in 2006.

KILLER NONFICTION

“One of the funniest and most unusual books of the year. . . . Gross, educational, and unexpectedly sidesplitting.”—Entertainment Weekly

Think you might want to leave your body to science? Before you make the decision, perhaps you should read Stiff. Your noble gift may help to find a cure for cancer, but it could also end up as a practice head for plastic-surgeons-in-training or as a crash test dummy. Roach has a light touch with her subject, educating us in the uses of cadavers with both respect and a very lively sense of humor.

S	STIFF: THE CURIOUS LIVES OF HUMAN CADAVERS, by Mary Roach (W. W. Norton, 2004)