August 2
216 - During the Second Punic War, Carthaginian forces led by Hannibal defeated the Roman army in the Battle of Cannae.
1610 - During his fourth voyage to the Western Hemisphere, English explorer Henry Hudson sailed into what is now known as Hudson Bay.
1776 - Members of the Second Continental Congress began signing the Declaration of Independence.
1862 - The Ambulance Corps for the Army of the Potomac was created at the order of Maj. Gen. George McClellan during the Civil War.
1873 - Inventor Andrew S. Hallidie successfully tested a cable car he had designed for the city of San Francisco.
1876 - Wild Bill Hickok was shot and killed while playing poker in a saloon in Deadwood, in present-day South Dakota.
1909 - The first Lincoln penny was issued.
1922 - Alexander Graham Bell, generally regarded as the inventor of the telephone, died in Nova Scotia, Canada, at age 75.
1923 - President Warren G. Harding, the 29th president of the United States, died in San Francisco from a heart attack at age 57; Vice President Calvin Coolidge took the oath of office and became the nation's 30th president.
1934 - German President Paul von Hindenburg died, paving the way for Adolf Hitler's complete takeover.
1939 - Albert Einstein signed a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt urging creation of an atomic weapons research program.
1943 - PT-109, a torpedo boat commanded by Lt. John F. Kennedy, was sunk off the Solomon Islands by a Japanese destroyer during World War II; Kennedy was credited with saving members of the crew.
1945 - The Potsdam Conference, in which Allied leaders planned the postwar governance of Germany, ended.
1964 - The Pentagon reported the first of two attacks on U.S. destroyers by North Vietnamese torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin.
1985 - A Delta Air Lines jumbo jet crashed while attempting to land at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, killing 137 people.
1990 - The Persian Gulf War broke out when Iraq invaded Kuwait.
2000 - Republicans nominated Texas Gov. George W. Bush for president and Dick Cheney for vice president at the party's convention in Philadelphia.
2007 - Mattel recalled nearly a million Chinese-made toys from its Fisher-Price division that were found to have excessive amounts of lead.
2011 - The Senate passed, and President Barack Obama signed, legislation to avoid an unprecedented national default.
2016 - President Barack Obama castigated Donald Trump as “unfit” and “woefully unprepared” to serve in the White House, and challenged Republicans to withdraw their support for their party’s nominee, declaring “there has to come a point at which you say ‘enough.’”
2020 - Lord & Taylor, America’s oldest retailer, joined the list of retail companies seeking bankruptcy protection after faltering during the pandemic.
2020 - Closing out a test flight by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company, two NASA astronauts returned from the International Space Station with a retro-style splashdown, as their capsule parachuted safely into the Gulf of Mexico.
Birthdays
20 - Sophia Mitchell (model)
29 - Hallie Eisenberg (actress)
29 - Charli XCX (singer)
31 - Skylar Diggins (basketball player)
36 - Marci Miller (actress)
44 - Edward Furlong (actor)
45 - Sam Worthington (actor)
49 - Jacinda Barrett (actress)
51 - Kevin Smith (actor/director)
57 - Mary-Louise Parker (actress)
59 - Cynthia Stevenson (actress)
62 - Victoria Jackson (actress)
68 - Butch Patrick (actor)
71 - Kathryn Harrold (actress)
76 - Joanna Cassidy (actress)
78 - Kathy Lennon (singer)
102 - Nehemiah Persoff (actor)
==============================================
Today in Sports History - August 2
1907 - Future Hall of Fame pitcher Walter Johnson makes his major league debut at age 19 with the Washington Senators.
1921 - A jury in Chicago acquitted several former members of the Chicago White Sox baseball team and two others of conspiring to defraud the public in the notorious “Black Sox” scandal.
1938 - Bright yellow baseballs were used in a major league baseball game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the St. Louis Cardinals. It was hoped that the balls would be easier to see.
1961 - The NFL's St. Louis Cardinals defeat the Toronto Argonauts of the CFL 36-7 in an exhibition game in Toronto.
1967 - The New Orleans Saints make their NFL debut with a 16-7 loss to the Los Angeles Rams in an preseason game.
1968 - Ron Hansen (Washington Senators) and Tim Cullen (Chicago White Sox) become the first MLB players to be traded for each other twice in the same season; they had been traded in February in opposite directions
1973 - Future Hall of Famer George Brett makes his MLB debut with the Kansas City Royals.
1982 - Rickey Henderson of the Oakland Athletics becomes the first player in MLB history to steal 100 bases in two different seasons.
1987 - Eric Davis of the Cincinnati Reds becomes just the seventh player in MLB history to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases in the same season.
1987 - Michael Andretti runs the fastest Indy car race in history (171.49 mph) in winning the Marlboro 500 at the Michigan International Speedway.
1992 - Tom Seaver, Rollie Fingers, Hal Newhouser and Bill McGowan are inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
1992 - American track star Jackie Joyner-Kersee becomes the first to win consecutive Olympic golds in the heptathlon.
1992 - Vitaly Scherbo of Belarus becomes the first gymnast to win six gold medals at one Olympics at the Summer Games in Barcelona; he also becomes the first to win four gold medals in one day, winning titles on pommel, vault, rings and parallel bars.
1993 - Maryland investors led by Baltimore attorney Peter Angelos buy the Baltimore Orioles at auction in New York for $173 million, nearly $50 million more than ever paid for a major league baseball team.
1996 - The star-studded "Dream Team III" defeats Yugoslavia 95-69 to win the gold medal in men's basketball at the Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta. Members of the team were: Charles Barkley, Anfernee Hardaway, Grant Hill, Karl Malone, Reggie Miller, Hakeem Olajuwon, Shaquille O'Neal, Gary Payton, Scottie Pippen, Mitch Richmond, David Robinson and John Stockton. The team was coached by Lenny Wilkens (head), Jerry Sloan, Bobby Cremins and Clem Haskins.
2011 - New York Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira set a major league record when he homered from both sides of the plate for the 12th time in his career during a 6-0 win over the Chicago White Sox.
2012 - At the Summer Olympic Games in London, American swimmer Michael Phelps won his 16th career Olympic gold medal when he won the 200 meter individual medley. With the victory, he became the first male swimmer to win the same event in three consecutive Olympics.
216 - During the Second Punic War, Carthaginian forces led by Hannibal defeated the Roman army in the Battle of Cannae.
1610 - During his fourth voyage to the Western Hemisphere, English explorer Henry Hudson sailed into what is now known as Hudson Bay.
1776 - Members of the Second Continental Congress began signing the Declaration of Independence.
1862 - The Ambulance Corps for the Army of the Potomac was created at the order of Maj. Gen. George McClellan during the Civil War.
1873 - Inventor Andrew S. Hallidie successfully tested a cable car he had designed for the city of San Francisco.
1876 - Wild Bill Hickok was shot and killed while playing poker in a saloon in Deadwood, in present-day South Dakota.
1909 - The first Lincoln penny was issued.
1922 - Alexander Graham Bell, generally regarded as the inventor of the telephone, died in Nova Scotia, Canada, at age 75.
1923 - President Warren G. Harding, the 29th president of the United States, died in San Francisco from a heart attack at age 57; Vice President Calvin Coolidge took the oath of office and became the nation's 30th president.
1934 - German President Paul von Hindenburg died, paving the way for Adolf Hitler's complete takeover.
1939 - Albert Einstein signed a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt urging creation of an atomic weapons research program.
1943 - PT-109, a torpedo boat commanded by Lt. John F. Kennedy, was sunk off the Solomon Islands by a Japanese destroyer during World War II; Kennedy was credited with saving members of the crew.
1945 - The Potsdam Conference, in which Allied leaders planned the postwar governance of Germany, ended.
1964 - The Pentagon reported the first of two attacks on U.S. destroyers by North Vietnamese torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin.
1985 - A Delta Air Lines jumbo jet crashed while attempting to land at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, killing 137 people.
1990 - The Persian Gulf War broke out when Iraq invaded Kuwait.
2000 - Republicans nominated Texas Gov. George W. Bush for president and Dick Cheney for vice president at the party's convention in Philadelphia.
2007 - Mattel recalled nearly a million Chinese-made toys from its Fisher-Price division that were found to have excessive amounts of lead.
2011 - The Senate passed, and President Barack Obama signed, legislation to avoid an unprecedented national default.
2016 - President Barack Obama castigated Donald Trump as “unfit” and “woefully unprepared” to serve in the White House, and challenged Republicans to withdraw their support for their party’s nominee, declaring “there has to come a point at which you say ‘enough.’”
2020 - Lord & Taylor, America’s oldest retailer, joined the list of retail companies seeking bankruptcy protection after faltering during the pandemic.
2020 - Closing out a test flight by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company, two NASA astronauts returned from the International Space Station with a retro-style splashdown, as their capsule parachuted safely into the Gulf of Mexico.
Birthdays
20 - Sophia Mitchell (model)
29 - Hallie Eisenberg (actress)
29 - Charli XCX (singer)
31 - Skylar Diggins (basketball player)
36 - Marci Miller (actress)
44 - Edward Furlong (actor)
45 - Sam Worthington (actor)
49 - Jacinda Barrett (actress)
51 - Kevin Smith (actor/director)
57 - Mary-Louise Parker (actress)
59 - Cynthia Stevenson (actress)
62 - Victoria Jackson (actress)
68 - Butch Patrick (actor)
71 - Kathryn Harrold (actress)
76 - Joanna Cassidy (actress)
78 - Kathy Lennon (singer)
102 - Nehemiah Persoff (actor)
==============================================
Today in Sports History - August 2
1907 - Future Hall of Fame pitcher Walter Johnson makes his major league debut at age 19 with the Washington Senators.
1921 - A jury in Chicago acquitted several former members of the Chicago White Sox baseball team and two others of conspiring to defraud the public in the notorious “Black Sox” scandal.
1938 - Bright yellow baseballs were used in a major league baseball game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the St. Louis Cardinals. It was hoped that the balls would be easier to see.
1961 - The NFL's St. Louis Cardinals defeat the Toronto Argonauts of the CFL 36-7 in an exhibition game in Toronto.
1967 - The New Orleans Saints make their NFL debut with a 16-7 loss to the Los Angeles Rams in an preseason game.
1968 - Ron Hansen (Washington Senators) and Tim Cullen (Chicago White Sox) become the first MLB players to be traded for each other twice in the same season; they had been traded in February in opposite directions
1973 - Future Hall of Famer George Brett makes his MLB debut with the Kansas City Royals.
1982 - Rickey Henderson of the Oakland Athletics becomes the first player in MLB history to steal 100 bases in two different seasons.
1987 - Eric Davis of the Cincinnati Reds becomes just the seventh player in MLB history to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases in the same season.
1987 - Michael Andretti runs the fastest Indy car race in history (171.49 mph) in winning the Marlboro 500 at the Michigan International Speedway.
1992 - Tom Seaver, Rollie Fingers, Hal Newhouser and Bill McGowan are inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
1992 - American track star Jackie Joyner-Kersee becomes the first to win consecutive Olympic golds in the heptathlon.
1992 - Vitaly Scherbo of Belarus becomes the first gymnast to win six gold medals at one Olympics at the Summer Games in Barcelona; he also becomes the first to win four gold medals in one day, winning titles on pommel, vault, rings and parallel bars.
1993 - Maryland investors led by Baltimore attorney Peter Angelos buy the Baltimore Orioles at auction in New York for $173 million, nearly $50 million more than ever paid for a major league baseball team.
1996 - The star-studded "Dream Team III" defeats Yugoslavia 95-69 to win the gold medal in men's basketball at the Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta. Members of the team were: Charles Barkley, Anfernee Hardaway, Grant Hill, Karl Malone, Reggie Miller, Hakeem Olajuwon, Shaquille O'Neal, Gary Payton, Scottie Pippen, Mitch Richmond, David Robinson and John Stockton. The team was coached by Lenny Wilkens (head), Jerry Sloan, Bobby Cremins and Clem Haskins.
2011 - New York Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira set a major league record when he homered from both sides of the plate for the 12th time in his career during a 6-0 win over the Chicago White Sox.
2012 - At the Summer Olympic Games in London, American swimmer Michael Phelps won his 16th career Olympic gold medal when he won the 200 meter individual medley. With the victory, he became the first male swimmer to win the same event in three consecutive Olympics.
