Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 12/28/2010

12/28/1998:
The Arizona Diamondbacks execute a masterful trade of outfielders with the Detroit Tigers, obtaining 31-year-old Luis Gonzalez in exchange for 23-year-old Karim Garcia. While Garcia will struggle mightily in the American League and be out of baseball by 2004, Gonzalez will become the linchpin of the D'backs offense. In eight seasons with Arizona, he'll hit 224 home runs (57 in 2001) and have five straight years of 100 or more RBIs, including 142 in 2001. He'll also account for 310 doubles during his productive stay in Phoenix and delivery the winning hit in the seventh game of the 2001 World Series against the Yankees.

Birthdays:
Steve Van Buren b. 1920
Terry Sawchuk b. 1929
Ray Knight b. 1952
Ray Bourque b. 1960
James Blake b. 1979

Packers Fact:
The Packers celebrated their 50th anniversary season at Lambeau Field in 2007 by setting a new attendance record (566,443 fans for eight regular-season home dates).


Faces in Places
http://facesinplaces.blogspot.com/
They're not hard to spot once you know what to look for. Let this site be your primer for seeing faces in the most unusual places and things.

INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY

Raffles, which was dedicated to Arthur Conan Doyle, was the brainchild of E. W. Hornung (1866–1921), who also wrote Dead Men Tell No Tales, A Thief in the Night, and some war poetry but is hardly remembered today. However, the mysteriously rich Raffles, world traveler and jaded aesthete, jewel thief, safecracker, and master of disguises, and his thickheaded, admiring sidekick Bunny Manders, remain interesting. This is not just Bertie-and-Jeeves silliness. A sophisticated mix of bitters and rue makes Raffles a figure of great pathos at the end of these stories.

RAFFLES: THE AMATEUR CRACKSMAN, by E. W. Hornung (1899; Penguin Classics, 2003)