Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 5/19-22/2011

5/19/1999:
The Cincinnati Reds pound the Colorado Rockies, 24-12, on a record-setting afternoon in Denver. The two teams combine for 81 total bases, breaking the record of 79 established in 1923. The 15 extra-base hits by the Reds (9 doubles, 6 homers) tie a National League record. Seven different Reds have at least 3 hits; Cincinnati has 28 hits in all. Sean Casey is perfect in seven plate appearances with two homers, two singles and three walks, tying a modern major league record for most times reached base in a nine-inning game (batting 1.000). Jeffrey Hammonds' three homers, normally a lead story, on this day are merely a footnote.

Birthdays:
Dolph Schayes b. 1928
Archie Manning b. 1949
Bill Laimbeer b. 1957
Turk Wendell b. 1967
Kevin Garnett b. 1976

Packers Fact:
The Packers drafted defensive end Jarius Wynn out of Georgia in the sixth round in 2009.


5/20/1999:
Robin Ventura of the New York Mets becomes the first player in major league history to hit grand slams in both ends of a double header. In the first inning of the opener, Ventura clears the bases with a homer off the Milwaukee Brewers' Jim Abbott to give his club a 4-0 lead and the Mets hang on to win, 11-10. Facing Horacio Estrada in the fourth inning of the second tilt, he belts grand slam number two and the Mets win again, 10-1. He'll finish his career with 18 grand slams in 188 at-bats with the bases loaded.

Birthdays:
Hal Newhouser b. 1921
Bud Grant b. 1927
Stan Mikita b. 1940
Sadaharu Oh b. 1940
David Wells b. 1962

Packers Fact:
Star center Jug Earp's (1922-1932) last name appeared as "Earpe" during his playing career. The correction wasn't made until long after his retirement.

5/21/1904:
Bill O'Neill commits six errors, a modern (since 1900) major league baseball record, during a 13-inning 5-3 Red Sox loss to the St. Louis Browns in Boston. Normally a Sox outfielder, O'Neill is playing the second of the only two games he'll ever play at short. He's subbing for the injured Freddy Parent, who misses only two games all year.

Birthdays:
Johnny Majors b. 1935
Johnny Roland b. 1943
Dave Wannstedt b. 1952
Kent Hrbek b. 1960
Ricky Williams b. 1977

Packers Fact:
End Billy Howton made the Pro Bowl four times in his seven seasons with the Packers (1952-58). He caught 503 passes, including 61 four touchdowns.

5/22:
Don King, notorious boxing celebrity: "I am the best promoter in the world, and I say that humbly."

Birthdays:
Al Simmens b. 1902
Larry Siegfried b. 1939
Nick Tingelhoff b. 1940
Tommy John b. 1943
George Best b. 1946

ENOUGH IS
GREAT RICHES.

—Danish proverb

“I’m no good at being noble, but it doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you’ll understand that.”

—RICK BLAINE (HUMPHREY BOGART) in Casablanca; screenplay by Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, and Howard Koch

“True courage is facing danger when you are afraid.”

—L. FRANK BAUM, American writer

HOPE IS
A TALENT
LIKE ANY
OTHER.

—MARGARET STORM JAMESON, English writer

ON OH, PUT A SOCK IN IT, JULIETTE

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It just happens that I’m acting because I’m in the process of meeting someone—myself—on the way back.

actress Juliette Binoche

ON ALBERTANS, FRIGID

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Most of the sex is south of you.

closed captioning on a TV weather report in Alberta, Canada

ON STATS, STUPID

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If crime went down 100 percent, it would still be 50 times higher than it should be.

Washington, D.C., city councilman John Bowman, commenting on the high crime in the city

ON AND THE
53RD AMENDMENT
FREE-SPEECH THINGIE

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I support the First Amendment right to carry and bear arms.

politician Rudy Giuliani

KILLING THRILLER

If you like your mysteries superbly crafted, lavished with unforgettable images and characters, quietly devastating, and intellectually engaging to the last page, dig into this multigenerational tale of betrayal, entanglement, and deceit that starts in World War I and still haunts the descendants of those involved decades later. The stories and time frames and points of view are intertwined so masterfully that the mystery that unfolds is as fresh as if we were discovering each life-changing secret right along with the characters.

IN PALE BATTALIONS, by Robert Goddard (1988; Delta, 2007)

READ THIS MATEY!

The son of Jonathan Livingston Seagull’s creator had, as you might imagine, an interesting childhood, but you’d never guess just how interesting. A poor student, yet clearly gifted, James Bach fought and rebelled and failed his way through about three quarters of a high school education and then, with the blessing of his illustrious and iconoclastic father, dropped out and emancipated himself from his parents. Here is his prescription for how to ride the high seas of autodidactic adventure and enjoy life’s bounty.

THE SECRETS OF A BUCCANEER SCHOLAR: HOW SELF-EDUCATION AND THE PURSUIT OF PASSION CAN LEAD TO A LIFETIME OF SUCCESS, by James Marcus Bach (Scribner, 2009)

SAINT JOAN OF MEXICO

The Hummingbird’s Daughter is Luis Alberto Urrea’s beautifully conceived and executed novel based on the life of his great-grandmother Teresita, who was called the Saint of Cabora. She was the child of a 14-year-old Indian girl and a rancher, Don Tomás Urrea, who later took his illegitimate daughter into his home. At 16 she was raped and left for dead, but at her funeral she surprised everyone by sitting up in her coffin, very much alive. She was believed to have miraculous healing powers and was denounced by the church as a heretic. An amazing book, full of struggle and heart.

THE HUMMINGBIRD’S DAUGHTER, by Luis Alberto Urrea (Little, Brown, 2005)