August 30: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

August 30, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1877, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Brigham Young, the head of the Mormon Church, died in Salt Lake City at 4 o’clock yesterday afternoon.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1912, the Eagle reported, “At the local ‘Bull Moose’ headquarters on Montague street today, the composition of the Kings County delegation on the resolutions committee of the State Progressive Party convention was announced. The committee, which is to draw up a State platform for the ‘Bull Moose’ party, will meet in Syracuse two days before the State convention opens. The Brooklyn members of the committee will leave the Grand Central terminal at midnight on Monday, arriving in Syracuse in time to attend the first session of the committee on Tuesday morning, September 2.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1925, the Eagle reported, “ST. LOUIS, AUG. 29 (AP) — “‘Misconduct off the field’ was responsible for the $5,000 fine and indefinite suspension imposed on Babe Ruth today, Manager Miller Huggins, of the New York Yankees, stated tonight. ‘I absolutely refuse to discuss the circumstances which led to the fine and suspension, except to say that Ruth was guilty of misconduct off the field,’ Huggins stated. He refused to add to this. ‘Does this mean that Ruth is out of the game for the remainder of the season?’ Huggins was asked. ‘That’s entirely up to me, and I will decide that when the time comes,’ he replied.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1945, the Eagle reported, “YOKOHAMA, JAPAN (U.P.) — General Douglas MacArthur set up headquarters in Yokohama today as the first 40,000 troops of his occupation army raised the Stars and Stripes over Japan’s largest naval base, two airfields and a big slice of the Tokyo plain. A half-dozen or more Japanese towns, some within a few miles of the southern outskirts of Tokyo, were occupied by Allied air and seaborne forces in their first few hours ashore. General MacArthur, supreme occupation commander, established his headquarters at Yokohama’s new Grand Hotel with other top American officers less than an hour after landing at Atsugi Airfield from Okinawa. From the top of the hotel, General MacArthur could see Emperor Hirohito’s palace in the heart of Tokyo. Both Hirohito and the Japanese Government now must take their orders from General MacArthur. South of Yokohama, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz — General MacArthur’s partner in the conquest of Japan — and Admiral William F. (Bull) Halsey of 3rd Fleet fame went ashore at the newly occupied Yokosuka naval base, formerly Japan’s No. 1 navy yard. It already had surrendered formally to Admiral Halsey’s deputies.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1950, the Eagle reported, “Tall, poised Althea Gibson of New York, first Negro ever to play on the manicured turf at Forest Hills, shared the billing today with two of the world’s greatest foreign stars as the U.S. tennis championships swung into the third day. The 22-year-old Negro star was only one game away from a tremendous upset victory over Wimbledon champion Louise Brough of Beverly Hills, Cal., when a violent electrical storm struck yesterday. Weather permitting they’ll resume today right at that point. Her unfinished match with the cagey 27-year-old Californian, transferred from a side court into the huge horseshoe stadium, was the first order of business. She led Miss Brough, 1-6, 6-3, 7-6, when the storm struck. Miss Brough will serve the next game. Frank Sedgman of Australia, also washed out of his scheduled match, was paired against Straight Clark of Pasadena, Cal., and Jaroslav Drobny of Egypt drew Harry Hopman of Australia in the top second rounders in men’s singles. Sedgman and Drobny were the pick of most of the players to meet in the finale on Labor Day, ensuring the first foreign title winner since Fred Perry of England captured the crown in 1936.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1952, the Eagle reported, “WILLIAMSPORT, PA. (U.P.) — Baseball’s Little World champs from Norwalk, Conn., took home a challenge today from two of the game’s ‘grand old men,’ who said: ‘Go out and break every record in the books.’ In the din of triumph that followed their stirring 4-to-3 victory over Monongahela, Pa., the Little Leaguers from the Nutmeg State were told by President Connie Mack of the Philadelphia Athletics, and Cy Young, who won more games in the majors than any other pitcher in the history of the game, to ‘take over for us.’ A bystander asked Young if he thought any kid pitcher ever would top his mark of 511 victories in major league competition. ‘If anybody does I won’t be around to see it,’ said the 85-year-old patriarch from Newcomerstown, Ohio. ‘But I hope that my work and all of the others are broken by these kids coming along … Baseball will be a better game because of this Little League world series and because of the thousands of teams of kids around the country who never get to the championships, but who are learning the game right, and who will get better as they go along.’”

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Michael Chiklis
Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include Berkshire Hathaway chairman and CEO Warren Buffett, who was born in 1930; “The Dukes of Hazzard” star Ben Jones, who was born in 1941; cartoonist Robert Crumb, who was born in 1943; comedian Lewis Black, who was born in 1948; “The Paper Chase” star Timothy Bottoms, who was born in 1951; Basketball Hall of Famer Robert Parish, who was born in 1953; “Mr. Saturday Night” star David Paymer, who was born in 1954; former St. John’s basketball coach Fran Fraschilla, who was born in Brooklyn in 1958; “The Shield” star Michael Chiklis, who was born in 1963; “The Mask” star Cameron Diaz, who was born in 1972; journalist Lisa Ling, who was born in 1973; International Tennis Hall of Famer Andy Roddick, who was born in 1982; singer-songwriter Bebe Rexha, who was born in 1989; “Underwater” star Jessica Henwick, who was born in 1992; and N.Y. Knicks guard Mikal Bridges, who was born in 1996.

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EMERGENCY BREAKTHROUGH: The Washington-Moscow hotline went into operation on this day in 1963. Also known as the “red telephone” (though Teletype equipment was used), it linked the Pentagon and the Kremlin. Fax machines took over the task in 1986 and secure email has been used since 2008.

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BENCHMARK: Thurgood Marshall was confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court on this day in 1967. Marshall, the founder of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, was the first African-American on the high court. He retired in 1991 and was succeeded by Clarence Thomas. He died in 1993.

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

Quotable:

“Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”

— business magnate Warren Buffett, who was born on this day in 1930