Sports Fact and Book Rec of the Day 04/29/2008

4/29/1976:
Dick Snyder's driving layup over Wes Unseld with four seconds left gives the Cleveland Cavaliers an 87-85 victory over Washington in the deciding game of their NBA Easter conference semifinal playoff series. Snyder leads a balanced Cleveland attack with 23 points before over 21,000 fans at the Richfield Coliseum. Although the Cavs will lose to Boston in the next round of the postseason, Snyder's game-winning hoop will stand as arguably the most indelible moment in the first three decades of Cavaliers basketball.

Birthdays:
George Allen b. 1922
Luis Aparicio b. 1934
Jim Ryun b. 1947
Dale Earnhardt Sr. b. 1952
Andre Agassi b. 1970

1986:
Boston Red Sox fireballer Roger Clemens set a major league baseball record by striking out 20 Seattle Mariners batters in a nine-inning game.

"Mariner leffielder Phil Bradley walked to the plate like a man approaching three fastballs...Clemens's night flight to Cooperstown was complete." -Peter Gammons, May 12, 1986

KILLER NONFICTION

The White City, the heart of the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, stood resplendent in Chicago, proclaiming the rise of American arts and industry and the American Dream. This is the story of its leading architect, Daniel Burnham. It is also the story of Dr. H. H. Holmes, who might be called the architect of the American Nightmare. A serial murderer, Holmes killed somewhere between 27 and 200 people during the Exposition and utilized his own system of cadaver disposal. Larson has brilliantly combined the stories of the two men and their “achievements” into an enthralling read.

DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY: MURDER, MAGIC, AND MADNESS AT THE FAIR THAT CHANGED AMERICA, by Erik Larson (Vintage, 2004)