Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 4/4/2012

4/4/1974:
On Opening Day at Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium, Hank Aaron ties Babe Ruth as the all-time home run leader with his 714th career home run. The historic blast comes off Jack Billingham on Aaron's first swing of the season, a 3-1 pitch with two runners on base in the first inning. Aaron is presented with the ball by Commissioner Bowie Kuhn and Vice President Gerald Ford in a ceremony at home plate. He'll break the record four days from now, on April 8, in Atlanta's first home game of the season. Aaron finishes his career with 755 home runs and holds the record until he's passed by Barry Bonds in 2007.

Birthdays:
Tris Speaker b. 1888
JoAnne Carner b. 1939
Dale Hawerchuk b. 1963
Scott Rolen b. 1975
Ben Gordon b. 1983

ENDURING CLASSIC

From this novel stems the phrase that sums up all of E. M. Forster’s work: Only connect. To read the story of Margaret Schlegel’s businesslike marriage more than a century after it was first published is to find that its allegorical themes have taken on new resonance in our physically distant, Internet-crazed society. If you think Forster is little more than the framework for some very pretty movies, connect with this book—you’ll see the error in your thinking.

HOWARDS END, by E. M. Forster (1910; Penguin Classics, 2000)