This Day In History - Mister Rogers

It was forty years ago today
Mister Rogers told the kids to play
He's been going in and out of style
But he's guaranteed to raise a smile

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the first national airing of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" on PBS. All of us who write for this blog grew up with Mister Rogers. His show was great, and harkens back to simpler times. There were no fancy graphics or animation. Just Fred Rogers telling stories, feeding his fish, accepting visitors, taking field trips, and teaching lessons to the young viewers. Mister Rogers passed away from stomach cancer in 2003, not too long after his retirement. He was a genuinely kind man, and his show really reflected his personality. His show ran for a PBS record 998 episodes. Here are some interesting facts about Fred Rogers and his long-running show (culled from wikipedia):

• The sweaters he wore on his show were hand-knitted by his mother. He wore a total of 24 different cardigans throughout the show's run.


• In 2000, Rogers had been driving the same car for years - an old second-hand Impala. Then it was stolen from its parking spot near the WQED studio (in Pittsburgh). Rogers filed a police report, the story was picked up by local news outlets, and general shock swept across town. Within 48 hours, the car was back in the spot where he left it, along with a note saying, "If we'd known it was yours, we never would have taken it!"


• Mister Rogers supported taping of his shows, when it was an issue in a copyright case. Who knew that Fred was a Deadhead at heart.


• Despite the rumors, Fred was not a Navy Seal who served in Vietnam, he did not have tatoos all over his arms (making long sleeved cardigans a necessity), he was not a child molester, and did not flip the bird to his audience on his last day on the air. He was just a good dude.


• Fred recieved 40 honorary degrees from various institutions.


• There is an asteroid named for him - called 26858 Misterrogers.


• Fred wrote 200 songs during his career.


• His goody-goody persona spawned many parodies. My favorites: Mister Robinson's Neighborhood on SNL (with Eddie Murphy), and Mister Roberts on the National Lampoon album "That's Not Funny, That's Sick" ("can you say deja vu?").

Forty years ago today, Fred Rogers entered the lives of many children across the country, and we're all better off for it. Here's to you, Fred. The next time you take a trip to the neighborhood of make-believe, think of Mister Rogers. "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood..."

This Day In History - Ty Cobb

Today, December 18th, is the anniversary of the birth of Ty Cobb (in 1886), widely considered to be both one of the greatest baseball players of all-time and one of the biggest assholes of all-time. While his on-field exploits are well-known, I would like to detail some of his more infamous off-field "accomplishments" (this is culled from wikipedia, which uses lots of Cobb books as sources):

• When his son, Ty Jr., flunked out of Princeton, Ty traveled to campus and beat his son with a whip to "ensure against future academic failure." His son then enrolled at Yale, where he was arrested twice for drunkenness and never graduated. However, he did eventually become a doctor.


• He apparently was a very wise investor. At the time of his death, his estate was worth over $11 million (mostly GE and Coca Cola stock). In 1961, he checked into Emory hospital for the last time, carrying with him a paper bag containing over $1 million in negotiable bonds and a Luger pistol. He died a month later.


• He served for 67 days in WWI, under the command of Branch Rickey, the legendary baseball executive. Also in his unit were fellow baseball hall-of-famers Christy Mathewson and George Sisler.


• In 1926, Cobb and fellow future hall-of-famer Tris Speaker retired from baseball (they were both player-managers at the time) on the same day. They were coerced into retirement by the commissioner because of game fixing allegations. After hearings with the commish, they were allowed to retire without any publicity. Two months later, they were both cleared and re-joined the league, albeit with different teams.


• Cobb was noted for his numerous fights, both on and off the field. After one on-field argument, Cobb and umpire Billy Evans arranged to settle their differences with a fistfight, to be conducted under the grandstand after the game. Members of both teams were spectators, and broke up the scuffle after Cobb had knocked Evans down, pinned him, and began choking him. In another incident, Cobb slapped a black elevator operator for being "uppity." When a black night watchman intervened, Cobb pulled out a knife and stabbed him (The matter was later settled out of court).


• In 1912, he attacked a heckler in the stands. The heckler was handicapped, having lost one entire hand and three fingers of the other hand in an industrial accident. He was suspended for the incident, and his teammates went on strike to protest. For that one game, the Tigers fielded a team of replacement players and lost 24-2. Cobb claimed that this protest led to the formation of the players union.

Can you imagine if this stuff occurred now? The dude would be thrown out of the league for fighting with an umpire or beating a man in the stands. Bottom line: Ty Cobb was kind of a dick.

75 YEARS AGO

The 21st amendment to the US Constitution was officially ratified on December 5th, 1933, allowing all of us and or posterity to purchase alcohol legally again. So tonight after work by all means indulge on the alcoholic beverage of your choice and remember the 13 years of suffering that the country endured. As a follow-up post we will ask for your personal favorites when clinking your glasses and toasting.

*Interesting side note, this was the only amendment ever ratified by the “state conventions” method rather than the normal state legistlature method. The amendment was proposed on 2-20-1933 and MICHIGAN proudly became the first state to ratify on April 10, 1933. (we’ve always got that going for us) The amendment did not become LAW until Utah (pause for a moment to consider the irony) became the 36th state of the then 48 to approve, which they did at 5:23 Eastern Time on 12-5-1933, and “Liberty’s Tourch was lighted once more.” President Roosevelt immediately issued a Repeal Proclamation, which like most other drivel from the mouths of democrats, meant nothing.

http://cocktails.about.com/od/history/a/prohibition.htm Fantastic article if you have the time.