Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 4/7/2012

4/71977:
The Blue Jays play their first regular-season game in franchise history and defeat the White Sox, 9-5, amid wintry conditions at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. Before the game, a Zamboni is used to clear snow off of the playing surface, and flurries fall throughout the game. The Sox leave an incredible 19 men on base. Doug Ault leads the Toronto attack with two home runs in his first two plate appearances.

Birthdays:
Bobby Doerr b. 1918
Gail Cogdill b. 1937
Tony Dorsett b. 1954
Ricky Watters b. 1969
Ronde and Tiki Barber b. 1975

CHEERS!

America has a long history of distilling spirits illegally. Journalist Max Watman starts his story in the 1790s, when home distillers protested a new whiskey tax and George Washington mustered troops to put down a liquor-fueled rebellion. The book even charts NASCAR’s roots in the getaway drivers who avoided tax men while running white lightning, which, of course, Watman then learns to distill—just for research, of course! Informative and highly entertaining.

CHASING THE WHITE DOG: AN AMATEUR OUTLAW’S ADVENTURES IN MOONSHINE, by Max Watman (Simon & Schuster, 2010)