August 17
1807 - Robert Fulton's steamboat, the Clermont, began its trip from New York City up the Hudson River to Albany.
1863 - Fort Sumter, South Carolina was bombarded by Union ships during the Civil War.
1896 - Prospectors found gold in Alaska, a discovery that set off the Klondike gold rush.
1915 - A mob in Cobb County, Georgia, lynched Jewish businessman Leo Frank, 31, whose death sentence for the murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan had been commuted to life imprisonment. (Frank, who’d maintained his innocence, was pardoned by the state of Georgia in 1986.)
1945 - Indonesian nationalists proclaimed independence from the Netherlands.
1945 - The George Orwell novel “Animal Farm,” an allegorical satire of Soviet Communism, was first published in London by Martin Secker & Warburg.
1962 - Eighteen-year-old Peter Fechter was shot and killed by guards at the Berlin Wall, spurring riots.
1969 - Hurricane Camille devastated the Gulf Coast, killing 248 people.
1978 - The first successful trans-Atlantic balloon flight landed outside Paris.
1982 - The first commercially-produced compact discs, a recording of ABBA's "The Visitors," were pressed at a Philips factory near Hanover, West Germany.
1987 - Rudolf Hess, Adolf Hitler's second in command, committed suicide at Spandau Prison at age 93.
1988 - Pakistani President Mohammad Zia ul-Haq and U.S. Ambassador Arnold Raphel were killed in a mysterious plane crash.
1998 - President Bill Clinton gave grand jury testimony via closed-circuit television from the White House concerning his relationship with Monica Lewinsky; he then delivered a TV address in which he denied previously committing perjury, admitted his relationship with Lewinsky was "wrong," and criticized Kenneth Starr's investigation.
1999 - More than 17,000 people were killed when a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck Turkey.
2012 - In Moscow, a judge sentenced three punk rock-style activists, members of the band Pussy Riot, to two years in prison for hooliganism for briefly taking over a cathedral in a raucous prayer for deliverance from Russian President Vladimir Putin; the court decision drew protests around the world. (One of the three defendants was later released on probation; the other two were released several months short of their two-year sentence in December 2013.)
2017 - A van plowed through pedestrians along a packed promenade in the Spanish city of Barcelona, killing 13 people and injuring 120. (A 14th victim died later from injuries.) Another man was stabbed to death in a carjacking that night as the van driver made his getaway, and a woman died early the next day in a vehicle-and-knife attack in a nearby coastal town. (Six suspects in the attack were shot dead by police, two more died when a bomb workshop exploded.)
2021 - In an effort to reassure world powers and fearful Afghans, the Taliban insisted that they would respect women’s rights, forgive those who fought them and ensure that Afghanistan would not become a haven for terrorists.
Birthdays
27 - Gracie Gold (figure skater)
28 - Taissa Farmiga (actress)
30 - Paige (professional wrestler)
31 - Austin Butler (actor)
34 - Brady Corbet (actor)
36 - Bryton James (actor)
36 - Andrea Espada (TV host)
44 - Jelena Karleusa (singer)
48 - Giuliana Rancic (TV personality)
51 - Jorge Posada (baseball player)
52 - Jim Courier (tennis player)
52 - Tammy Townsend (actress)
53 - Christian Laettner (basketball player)
53 - Donnie Wahlberg (singer)
55 - David Conrad (actor)
58 - Maria McKee (singer)
62 - Sean Penn (actor)
64 - Belinda Carlisle (singer)
71 - Robert Joy (actor)
79 - Robert DeNiro (actor)
81 - Boog Powell (baseball player)
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Today in Sports History - August 17
1894 - John Wadsworth of Louisville set a major league record when he gave up 28 base hits in a single game.
1933 - Lou Gehrig of the New York Yankees plays in his record 1,308th consecutive game.
1957 - Richie Ashburn of the Philadelphia Phillies fouls while at bat and hits the same fan, Alice Roth, twice in the same game: the first hit breaks her nose, the second hits her while she is on the stretcher.
1966 - Willie Mays of the San Francisco Giants hits his 535th career home run, moving past Jimmie Foxx into second place on the all-time list, trailing only Babe Ruth.
1973 - Willie Mays hits the 660th and final home run of his career.
1986 - Pete Rose (Cincinnati Reds) was struck out for his last at bat by San Diego Padres relief pitcher Rich "Goose" Gossage.
1987 - Muhammad Ali is elected to "Ring" magazine's Boxing Hall of Fame.
2008 - American swimmer Michael Phelps won his eighth gold medal at the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing China, breaking the record for most golds in one games set by Mark Spitz in 1972.
2021 - The Jacksonville Jaguars waived Tim Tebow, ending the NFL career of the 2007 Heisman Trophy winner who switched from quarterback to tight end in hopes of making a comeback; he had also spent five years playing baseball in the New York Mets’ organization while never making it to the big leagues.
1807 - Robert Fulton's steamboat, the Clermont, began its trip from New York City up the Hudson River to Albany.
1863 - Fort Sumter, South Carolina was bombarded by Union ships during the Civil War.
1896 - Prospectors found gold in Alaska, a discovery that set off the Klondike gold rush.
1915 - A mob in Cobb County, Georgia, lynched Jewish businessman Leo Frank, 31, whose death sentence for the murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan had been commuted to life imprisonment. (Frank, who’d maintained his innocence, was pardoned by the state of Georgia in 1986.)
1945 - Indonesian nationalists proclaimed independence from the Netherlands.
1945 - The George Orwell novel “Animal Farm,” an allegorical satire of Soviet Communism, was first published in London by Martin Secker & Warburg.
1962 - Eighteen-year-old Peter Fechter was shot and killed by guards at the Berlin Wall, spurring riots.
1969 - Hurricane Camille devastated the Gulf Coast, killing 248 people.
1978 - The first successful trans-Atlantic balloon flight landed outside Paris.
1982 - The first commercially-produced compact discs, a recording of ABBA's "The Visitors," were pressed at a Philips factory near Hanover, West Germany.
1987 - Rudolf Hess, Adolf Hitler's second in command, committed suicide at Spandau Prison at age 93.
1988 - Pakistani President Mohammad Zia ul-Haq and U.S. Ambassador Arnold Raphel were killed in a mysterious plane crash.
1998 - President Bill Clinton gave grand jury testimony via closed-circuit television from the White House concerning his relationship with Monica Lewinsky; he then delivered a TV address in which he denied previously committing perjury, admitted his relationship with Lewinsky was "wrong," and criticized Kenneth Starr's investigation.
1999 - More than 17,000 people were killed when a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck Turkey.
2012 - In Moscow, a judge sentenced three punk rock-style activists, members of the band Pussy Riot, to two years in prison for hooliganism for briefly taking over a cathedral in a raucous prayer for deliverance from Russian President Vladimir Putin; the court decision drew protests around the world. (One of the three defendants was later released on probation; the other two were released several months short of their two-year sentence in December 2013.)
2017 - A van plowed through pedestrians along a packed promenade in the Spanish city of Barcelona, killing 13 people and injuring 120. (A 14th victim died later from injuries.) Another man was stabbed to death in a carjacking that night as the van driver made his getaway, and a woman died early the next day in a vehicle-and-knife attack in a nearby coastal town. (Six suspects in the attack were shot dead by police, two more died when a bomb workshop exploded.)
2021 - In an effort to reassure world powers and fearful Afghans, the Taliban insisted that they would respect women’s rights, forgive those who fought them and ensure that Afghanistan would not become a haven for terrorists.
Birthdays
27 - Gracie Gold (figure skater)
28 - Taissa Farmiga (actress)
30 - Paige (professional wrestler)
31 - Austin Butler (actor)
34 - Brady Corbet (actor)
36 - Bryton James (actor)
36 - Andrea Espada (TV host)
44 - Jelena Karleusa (singer)
48 - Giuliana Rancic (TV personality)
51 - Jorge Posada (baseball player)
52 - Jim Courier (tennis player)
52 - Tammy Townsend (actress)
53 - Christian Laettner (basketball player)
53 - Donnie Wahlberg (singer)
55 - David Conrad (actor)
58 - Maria McKee (singer)
62 - Sean Penn (actor)
64 - Belinda Carlisle (singer)
71 - Robert Joy (actor)
79 - Robert DeNiro (actor)
81 - Boog Powell (baseball player)
==================================
Today in Sports History - August 17
1894 - John Wadsworth of Louisville set a major league record when he gave up 28 base hits in a single game.
1933 - Lou Gehrig of the New York Yankees plays in his record 1,308th consecutive game.
1957 - Richie Ashburn of the Philadelphia Phillies fouls while at bat and hits the same fan, Alice Roth, twice in the same game: the first hit breaks her nose, the second hits her while she is on the stretcher.
1966 - Willie Mays of the San Francisco Giants hits his 535th career home run, moving past Jimmie Foxx into second place on the all-time list, trailing only Babe Ruth.
1973 - Willie Mays hits the 660th and final home run of his career.
1986 - Pete Rose (Cincinnati Reds) was struck out for his last at bat by San Diego Padres relief pitcher Rich "Goose" Gossage.
1987 - Muhammad Ali is elected to "Ring" magazine's Boxing Hall of Fame.
2008 - American swimmer Michael Phelps won his eighth gold medal at the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing China, breaking the record for most golds in one games set by Mark Spitz in 1972.
2021 - The Jacksonville Jaguars waived Tim Tebow, ending the NFL career of the 2007 Heisman Trophy winner who switched from quarterback to tight end in hopes of making a comeback; he had also spent five years playing baseball in the New York Mets’ organization while never making it to the big leagues.
