October 28: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

October 28, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1910, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “A grand total of 7,279,157 persons witnessed the combined games of the National and American Baseball leagues during the season just closed, just 98,951 less than in 1909. The decrease occurred in the American League, the National showing an increase over 1909 of 54,782. Ban Johnson’s organization showed a falling off of 153,733 from 1909. This falling off is due partly to the early settlement of the American League race, it being a foregone conclusion that the Athletics would win a month before the close of the season. The National League outdrew the American by 15,483. Last season the American outdrew the National by more than 100,000.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1923, the Eagle reported, “PARIS, OCT. 27 — The only human skeletons of the Aurignacian age yet found have been unearthed at Solutre, near Macon in the department of Saone-et-Loire. They date back to the quarternary epoch and are at least 15,000 years old. Details of their discovery were reported to the Academy of Sciences by M. Deperet of the Lyons Faculty of Science. The skeletons are three in number, two being those of men between 25 and 30 years of age, and the third being that of a woman. One of the men was evidently a warrior who died fighting, as a piece of flint was found firmly embedded in his skull. All three are more than six feet tall and denote persons of fine physique with exaggerated lower jaws and perfect teeth. All were buried with their faces turned to the east. Above their heads were rude slabs of stone, which evidently once projected above the earth’s surface.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1945, the Eagle reported, “DETROIT, OCT. 27 (U.P.) — General Motors tonight asked United Auto Workers (C.I.O.) to accept a 45-hour work week for the reconversion period. The company offered as an inducement a 6 percent wage raise for straight time work. G.M. President C.E. Wilson asked the union to join in petitioning Congress for a change in the 40-hour act. He had made the suggestion earlier to a press conference, but today he proposed it to the union directly to accept a longer work week at higher pay in lieu of the 30 percent wage boost asked by the union for a 40-hour week. It was expected that the U.A.W. would reject the offer since it has stated its vigorous opposition to any upward revision of the 40-hour week for which labor fought so long. Mr. Wilson took note of this view by saying, ‘Your first impression of this proposal probably will be that it is a reactionary idea, and not in the interest of labor.’ However, he added, ‘It is not reactionary any more than working longer hours in the war emergency was.’ The proposal was made against a background of a U.A.W. strike threat in General Motors and Chrysler plants. In strike ballots conducted this week under the Smith-Connally Act, the union members approved by wide margins a walkout if necessary to force acceptance of their demand. A similar ballot in plants of the Ford Motor Company will be conducted early next month.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1951, Eagle TV columnist Bob Lanigan said, “A new science fiction show called ‘Out There’ will debut over CBS-TV at 6 p.m. today, and from what I’m told, it promises to be a real thriller. It is based on a Saturday Evening Post story, ‘The Outer Limit,’ and why more shows do not adapt excellent magazine and newspaper stories to TV I’ll never understand.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1954, the Eagle reported, “STOCKHOLM (U.P.) — Ernest Hemingway today won the 1954 Nobel prize for literature for his book ‘The Old Man and the Sea,’ which he said he wrote ‘because I was broke.’ The writer of he-man tales, whose savage stories of bulls, bitterness and bravery repeatedly had been bypassed by the Nobel committee, got the award for his gentle story of a noble old man and a fish. Informed at his Havana ranch home that he had received literature’s greatest honor, the noted American novelist said, ‘I am very pleased and proud.’ But he said he will be unable to travel to Stockholm to receive the coveted award from the hands of Sweden’s King Gustav Adolf because of injuries received in two African plane crashes earlier this year. It was to raise money for that African adventure, Hemingway said, that he wrote ‘The Old Man and the Sea.’ He said he wrote and rewrote the manuscript until he was ‘exhausted.’ And he explained to his Havana press conference that he tested his writings on his wife, Mary, to see if they are good. ‘If she gets goose pimples,’ he said, ‘I know they are good.’”

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Julia Roberts
Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include Basketball Hall of Famer Lenny Wilkens, who was born in Brooklyn in 1937; “Soap” creator Susan Harris, who was born in 1940; “NYPD Blue” star Dennis Franz, who was born in 1944; “Family Matters” star Telma Hopkins, who was born in 1948; media personality and Olympic gold medalist Caitlyn Jenner, who was born in 1949; Songwriters Hall of Famer Desmond Child, who was born in 1953; Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, who was born in 1955; “The Talk” co-host Sheryl Underwood, who was born in 1963; “Still Standing” star Jami Gertz, who was born in 1965; Pro Football Hall of Famer Steve Atwater, who was born in 1966; blogger and activist Matt Drudge, who was born in 1966; Oscar-winning actress Julia Roberts, who was born in 1967; Oscar-winning actor Joaquin Phoenix, who was born in 1974; “Ratched” star Finn Wittrock, who was born in 1984; and “Modern Family” star Nolan Gould, who was born in 1998.