Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 9/19-9/20/2009

9/19/1998:
Five-year-old Skip Away outclasses a strong field of contenders and captures the Woodward Stakes at Belmont by almost two lengths over Gentlemen. Touted contenders Free House and Coronado's Quest finish 17 lengths behind. It's Skip Away's seventh straight victory of the year in high-caliber stakes races, and even though he fails to win either of his last two starts this season, he's a clear choice for Horse of the Year honors.

Birthdays:

Willie Pep b. 1922
Andre Boudrias b. 1943
Joe Morgan b. 1943
Sidney Wicks b. 1949
Randy Myers b. 1962

Packers Fact:
End Don Hutson caught an 83-yard touchdown pass on his first play as a member of the starting lineup. It was against the Bears in 1935.

In the Louis Kincaid mysteries, Joe Frye is the only woman on the Miami-Dade police force, and she’s Kincaid’s lover. Here she takes center stage in the narrative of her own past, in particular the harrowing serial murder case that brought her together with Kincaid. The authors, a team of sisters known collectively as P. J. Parrish, consistently deliver some of the best police procedurals today. After this you’ll want to catch the earlier Thicker Than Water, Dead of Winter, and A Killing Rain.

A THOUSAND BONES, by P. J. Parrish (Pocket Books, 2007)

9/20/1999:
Milton Bradley hits a walk-off grand-slam homer in the last of the ninth inning to give the Harrisburg Senators (Expos) a 12-11 victory over the Norwich Navigators (Yankees) in the fifth and deciding game of their Eastern League (AA) championship series. Bradley's jackpot wallop at Riverside Park in Harrisburg clinches the Senators' fourth straight Eastern League crown in a series that not only was interrupted for two days by Hurricane Floyd but produced five straight one-run ball games.

Birthdays:
Red Auerbach b. 1917
Tommy Nobis b. 1943
Dave Twardzik b. 1950
Guy Lafleur b. 1951
Bonzi Wells b. 1976

THEY DON’T MAKE THEM LIKE THAT ANYMORE

It almost feels as if you are there, with Teddy Roosevelt in 1912, sailing down the River of Doubt in the South American heart of darkness. A despondent T. R.—he’s upset about having lost his bid for a third term as president and other travails—and his party (which includes his third son, Kermit) undertake a difficult, ill-equipped, and life-threatening expedition. Teeming with flora and fauna, personality, and incident.

THE RIVER OF DOUBT: THEODORE ROOSEVELT’S DARKEST JOURNEY, by Candice Millard (Broadway Books, 2006)