Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 12/12/2008

12/12/1933:
The Detroit Tigers purchase catcher Mickey Cochrane from the cash-poor Philadelphia Athletics for $100,000 and name him their new player-manager. Not only will the feisty field leader hit .320 and .319 the next two seasons, but he'll also work his magic on pitchers Tommy Bridges and Schoolboy Rowe, turning them into 20-game winners. The Tigers will win the American League pennant in Cochrane's first two years at the helm and win World Series in 1935. It will all end badly, though, for the rock-solid Irishman known as "Black Mike." The pressures of managing will land him in a sanitarium in 1936, and in '37 he'll be seriously beaned by Bump Hadley at Yankee Stadium, never to play again. His .320 lifetime batting average remains an all-time record for catchers.

Birthdays:
Bob Pettit b. 1932
Emerson Fittipaldi b. 1946
Cathy Rigby b. 1952
Tracy Austin b. 1962
John Randle b. 1967

1951:
The New York Yankees centerfielder Joe DiMaggio announced his retirement.

"DiMaggio's fame and reputation are undiminished. He is today what he has been almost from the day he first put on a New York Yankee uniform-a national icon. And in the larger world, DiMaggio, a mere baseball player, remains one of the most famous Americans." -Anonymous, July 19, 1993

Packers Fact:
Jim Ringo was the center on the Packers' back-to-back championship clubs in 1961 and 1962. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1981.

FAVORITE SERIES

The fiercely loyal lovers of Gabaldon’s Outlander series are ecstatic about this sixth installment. The epic love affair between heartthrob husband Jamie and time-traveling wife Claire Fraser sizzles hotter than ever as they set about avenging wrongs and healing wounds in their inimitable way. The setting is North Carolina on the eve of the Revolutionary War, and the Frasers must avert their own end, which Claire has seen foretold in the Wilmington Gazette of 1776. Settle in for plenty of action, trouble, sex, and exquisite detail.

A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES, by Diana Gabaldon (Delacorte Press, 2005)