Sports Fact and Book Rec of the Day 8/13/2008

8/13/1963:
Dave DeBusschere pitches a six-hit shutout for the Chicago White Sox, blanking Cleveland, 3-0, at Comiskey Park. The tall right-hander allows only six singles and one walk in what proves to be the only shutout and last victory of his brief major league career. Already established as a star forward with the Detroit Pistons in the NBA, DeBusschere will shelve his pitching aspirations after this season and go on to a Hall of Fame career on the hardwood. After six seasons in Detroit, he'll be traded to the New York Knicks and help them win two NBA titles while earning renown for his defensive prowess and steadfast rebounding.

Birthdays:
Ben Hogan b. 1912
Bobby Clarke b. 1949
Betsy King b. 1955
Shayne Corson b. 1966
Jarrod Washburn b. 1974

1969:
Baltimore's Jim Palmer, back from two years of injuries, pitched a no-hitter as the Orioles defeated Oakland, 8-0.

"Oriole righthander Jim Palmer is not even a college graduate, but he sounds like an orthopedist when he discusses arm, hip, back and shoulder injuries. Palmer blithely talks of infraspinatus muscles, Teflon needles, tendonitis and Indacin, because he has come to know them well." -Peter Carry, August 25, 1969

Packers Fact:
Lamar McHan passed for a team leading 8 touchdowns for Vince Lombardi's first team in 1959. He split time with Bart Starr at quarterback until Lombardi settled on Starr as his full-time starter midway through 1960.

GRIPPING FICTION

The giant is Bean, the once diminutive boy who first appeared as Ender Wiggin’s lieutenant in the science fiction classic Ender’s Game. Bean then became the central character in Ender’s Shadow, the beginning of the Shadow series that Card spun off from the Ender novels. Shadow of the Giant is the fourth novel in the series. Bean wants to settle down with his wife, Petra. But he has become too big for the home world and has too many enemies there. Giant is another of Card’s mesmerizing page-turning stories whose characters always grab hold of a reader and don’t let go even after the last page is turned.

SHADOW OF THE GIANT, by Orson Scott Card (Tor Books, 2006)