March 10: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

March 10, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1922, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “George Wright, star shortstop of the Cincinnati Red Stockings, played throughout the entire season of 1869 for a salary of $1,200. The Red Stockings played fifty-seven games that year, of which they won fifty-six and tied one, a record which has never been duplicated. Wright was the highest paid member of the team. Babe Ruth, home run hitter extraordinaire, signed on Sunday a contract with the New York American League Club which will net him approximately $75,000 during the coming season. The contract is for three years, with a renewal option for two seasons additional. If continued for the full five years, George Herman Ruth will receive a total of not less than $375,000. These figures give an idea of the development of professional baseball in this country during the past fifty years.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1935, the Eagle reported, “LONDON, MARCH 9 (AP) — Prominent in the spectacular ceremonials attendant upon the celebration of King George’s silver jubilee this spring will be the fair-haired 9-year-old child who one day may be the ruler of the British Empire. She is Princess Elizabeth, elder of the two little daughters of the Duke and Duchess of York. She is in direct line of accession after her father, the king’s second son. So long as her ‘Uncle David,’ the Prince of Wales, shows no symptoms of deserting his single state, her path toward the throne appears clear. If Wales were to marry, of course, and have children, Elizabeth would fade into the background, but the increasing attention showered upon her, and her mounting participation in royal functions seem to indicate the family has become reconciled to Wales’ bachelorhood. The education of a future queen of England has begun … Already in the public mind she is assuming some of the glamor that once attached exclusively to the Prince of Wales. Her every appearance is cheered, and news photographers who once devoted practically all their time to following Wales now vie in getting intimate shots of the little princess.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1953, the Eagle reported, “ALBANY — Governor [Thomas] Dewey today asked the Legislature to set up a transit operating authority to run New York City’s subway system on a ‘self-sustaining fare basis’ and to dispose of city-owned bus lines to private interests as soon as possible. In a strongly worded message, Dewey said that his proposed authority should institute ‘drastic economies’ to cut down the subway deficit. If the lines cannot be made fully self-sustaining, he indicated, a fare rise would be a necessity. ‘If such economies can reach the total of the $36,000,000 subway deficit, the present fare can be maintained,’ he said. ‘Whatever the event, the people of New York would have the satisfaction of knowing that transit was being operated on the lowest possible self-sustaining basis.’ … Dewey’s proposed authority would be made up of five men serving for six-year terms. Two would be appointed by the governor, two by the mayor and the fifth by the first four appointed.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1963, the Eagle reported, “MEXICO CITY — Outside the U.S. Consulate on this city’s broad Paseo de la Reforma, throngs of straw-hatted, sun-tanned farmhands stand patiently waiting their turn. ‘Operation Visa’ is in full swing. Formerly only seasonal, the long lines now are bulging daily in an unprecedented exodus to the United States. The 13 American consulates in Mexico, constituting Uncle Sam’s biggest visa-issuing operation in the world, are having difficulty keeping abreast of the 5,000 visa applications every month. Already, there are some 125,000 Mexicans on the waiting list, estimates Consul-General Terrace G. Laonhardy here. Laonhardy attributes much of the mushrooming demand for visas to the big drop in work contracts offered Mexican ‘braceros’ (laborers) on agricultural projects and farms in the southwestern and western United States. The farmers want to go back and settle permanently, Laonhardy explained. Once an immigrant visa is issued, then all a Mexican has to do is enter the United States within four months, keep working and register with immigration authorities every January as an alien. In the meantime, he can apply for naturalization as a citizen.”

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Barbara Corcoran
Charles Sykes/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “Walker, Texas Ranger” star Chuck Norris, who was born in 1940; “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” star Katharine Houghton, who was born in 1945; Boston founder Tom Scholz, who was born in 1947; businesswoman and media personality Barbara Corcoran, who was born in 1949; “Basic Instinct” star Sharon Stone, who was born in 1958; “A Different World” star Jasmine Guy, who was born in 1962; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Jeff Ament (Pearl Jam), who was born in 1963; music producer Rick Rubin, who was born in 1963; “Buffalo Stance” singer Neneh Cherry, who was born in 1964; singer-songwriter Edie Brickell, who was born in 1966; “Mad Men” star Jon Hamm, who was born in 1971; rapper Timbaland, who was born in 1972; musician and actress Carrie Underwood, who was born in 1983; and “House” star Olivia Wilde, who was born in 1984.

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SALE OF THE CENTURY: The Louisiana Purchase was completed on this day in 1804 when Spain transferred ownership of Upper Louisiana to France, which then transferred it to the U.S. A total of 828,000 square miles west of the Mississippi River changed hands, nearly doubling the size of the young nation.

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FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA: The U.S. Senate ratified the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on this day in 1848, ending the Mexican War. The treaty set the U.S.-Mexican border at the Rio Grande and also gave the U.S. ownership of California and much of New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah and Colorado.

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Special thanks to “Chase’s Calendar of Events” and Brooklyn Public Library.

Quotable:

“You don’t need an MBA to launch a business. You need street smarts and grit.”

— businesswoman Barbara Corcoran, who was born on this day in 1949