Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 8/21/2009

8/21/1990:
Trailing 11-3 entering the top of the ninth inning at Dodger Stadium, the Philadelphia Phillies score nine runs to gain an improbable 12-11 victory. Greatly aided by two errors by Dodgers shortstop Jose "#-6" Offerman and a timely three-run pinch homer by John Kruk, the Phillies string together six hits and two walks to batter three Dodger relievers for nine runs (only four earned) and stun the freeway-minded Dodgers fans, thousands of whom were already heading for the parking lot while this game unravels.

Birthdays:
Toe Blake b. 1912
Wilt Chamberlain b. 1936
Archie Griffin b. 1954
John Wetteland b. 1966
Craig Counsell b. 1970

Packers Fact:
The Packers won 69 of 80 games at home in a span of the 1993 through 2002 seasons. That was the best mark in the league in that 10-year stretch, and the second-best by any NFL team in any 10-year stretch in history (trailing only the Oakland Raiders of 1967-1976).

KATE’S NINE LIVES

A celebrity bio that reveals without diminishing its subject; imparts some surprising new information but not for shock value; and is written with sensitivity and finesse. It’s not too be good to be true; it’s William Mann’s biography of Katharine Hepburn. Dive in and discover the real woman behind the icon.

KATE: THE WOMAN WHO WAS HEPBURN, by William J. Mann (Henry Holt, 2006)