May 9
1914 - President Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation designating the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day.
1926 - Explorers Richard E. Byrd and Floyd Bennett flew over the North Pole.
1936 - Fascist Italy annexed Ethiopia.
1945 - With World War II in Europe at an end, Soviet forces liberated Czechoslovakia from Nazi occupation. U.S. officials announced that a midnight entertainment curfew was being lifted immediately.
1951 - The U.S. conducted its first thermonuclear experiment as part of Operation Greenhouse by detonating a 225-kiloton device on Enewetak Atoll in the Pacific nicknamed “George.”
1962 - The Beatles signed their first recording contract and hired George Martin to be their producer.
1962 - Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology succeeded in reflecting a laser beam off the surface of the moon.
1965 - Russian-born American pianist Vladimir Horowitz performed publicly for the first time in 12 years with a recital at Carnegie Hall in New York.
1970 - President Richard Nixon made a surprise and impromptu pre-dawn visit to the Lincoln Memorial, where he chatted with a group of protesters who’d been resting on the Memorial steps after protests against the Vietnam War and the Kent State shootings.
1974 - The House Judiciary Committee opened public hearings on whether to recommend the impeachment of President Richard Nixon. (The committee ended up adopting three articles of impeachment against the president, who resigned before the full House took up any of them.)
1978 - The body of slain former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro was found in an automobile in Rome.
1980 - Thirty-five people were killed when a freighter rammed the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay in Florida, causing a 1,400-foot section of the southbound span to collapse.
1994 - The South African parliament selected Nelson Mandela to serve as president.
2004 - Chechnya's Moscow-backed leader, Akhmad Kadyrov, was killed in a bombing, which also killed six others and wounded 60.
2016 - Filipinos went to the polls to elect Rodrigo Duterte, the controversial, tough-talking mayor of Davao city, to be their country’s next president.
2019 - Pope Francis issued a groundbreaking new church law requiring all Catholic priests and nuns to report clergy sexual abuse and cover-ups by their superiors to church authorities.
2020 - Rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Little Richard, known for his piercing wail, pounding piano and towering pompadour, died in Tennessee at the age of 87 after battling bone cancer; he had helped shatter the color line on the music charts while introducing Black R&B to white America.
Birthdays
22 - Cree Cicchino (actress)
23 - Alexandra Chaves (actress)
28 - Noah Centineo (actor)
28 - Mary Mouser (actress)
38 - Grace Gummer (actress)
39 - Audrina Patridge (reality star)
42 - Rachel Boston (actress)
45 - Rosario Dawson (actress)
46 - Daniel Franzese (actor)
60 - Sonja Sohn (actress)
62 - Dave Gahan (singer)
63 - John Corbett (actor)
68 - Wendy Crewson (actress)
71 - Amy Hill (actress)
73 - Alley Mills (actress)
75 - Billy Joel (singer)
77 - Anthony Higgins (actor)
78 - Candice Bergen (actress)
82 - Tommy Roe (singer)
90 - Alan Bennett (actor)
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Today in Sports History - May 9
1945 - The wartime government ban on horse racing was lifted, following the end of the World War II conflict in Europe.
1961 - Jim Gentile (Baltimore Orioles) set a major league baseball record when he hit a grand slam home run in two consecutive innings. The game was against the Minnesota Twins.
1984 - It took the Chicago White Sox 25 innings, spanning eight hours and six minutes over the course of two days, to finally defeat the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-6. (It was the longest game, in elapsed time, in MLB history.)
1987 - Eddie Murray (Baltimore Orioles) became the first player to switch hit homeruns in two consecutive games.
1993 - The Phoenix Suns beat the Los Angeles Lakers 112-104 in overtime to become the first NBA team to lose two playoff games at home and then come back to win three straight.
1995 - The Cleveland Indians tied a record when they recorded 8 runs before making an out. They beat the Minnesota Twins 10-0.
1997 - The San Diego Padres retired Randy Jones' #35.
1999 - Marshall McDougall of Florida State set several NCAA records in a baseball game against Maryland, hitting six home runs and recording 16 RBIs in a 25-2 victory.
2001 - In Accra, Ghana, at least 120 people died in a stampede at a soccer match.
2010 - Dallas Braden of the Oakland Athletics threw the 19th perfect game in MLB history in a 4-0 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.
1914 - President Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation designating the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day.
1926 - Explorers Richard E. Byrd and Floyd Bennett flew over the North Pole.
1936 - Fascist Italy annexed Ethiopia.
1945 - With World War II in Europe at an end, Soviet forces liberated Czechoslovakia from Nazi occupation. U.S. officials announced that a midnight entertainment curfew was being lifted immediately.
1951 - The U.S. conducted its first thermonuclear experiment as part of Operation Greenhouse by detonating a 225-kiloton device on Enewetak Atoll in the Pacific nicknamed “George.”
1962 - The Beatles signed their first recording contract and hired George Martin to be their producer.
1962 - Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology succeeded in reflecting a laser beam off the surface of the moon.
1965 - Russian-born American pianist Vladimir Horowitz performed publicly for the first time in 12 years with a recital at Carnegie Hall in New York.
1970 - President Richard Nixon made a surprise and impromptu pre-dawn visit to the Lincoln Memorial, where he chatted with a group of protesters who’d been resting on the Memorial steps after protests against the Vietnam War and the Kent State shootings.
1974 - The House Judiciary Committee opened public hearings on whether to recommend the impeachment of President Richard Nixon. (The committee ended up adopting three articles of impeachment against the president, who resigned before the full House took up any of them.)
1978 - The body of slain former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro was found in an automobile in Rome.
1980 - Thirty-five people were killed when a freighter rammed the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay in Florida, causing a 1,400-foot section of the southbound span to collapse.
1994 - The South African parliament selected Nelson Mandela to serve as president.
2004 - Chechnya's Moscow-backed leader, Akhmad Kadyrov, was killed in a bombing, which also killed six others and wounded 60.
2016 - Filipinos went to the polls to elect Rodrigo Duterte, the controversial, tough-talking mayor of Davao city, to be their country’s next president.
2019 - Pope Francis issued a groundbreaking new church law requiring all Catholic priests and nuns to report clergy sexual abuse and cover-ups by their superiors to church authorities.
2020 - Rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Little Richard, known for his piercing wail, pounding piano and towering pompadour, died in Tennessee at the age of 87 after battling bone cancer; he had helped shatter the color line on the music charts while introducing Black R&B to white America.
Birthdays
22 - Cree Cicchino (actress)
23 - Alexandra Chaves (actress)
28 - Noah Centineo (actor)
28 - Mary Mouser (actress)
38 - Grace Gummer (actress)
39 - Audrina Patridge (reality star)
42 - Rachel Boston (actress)
45 - Rosario Dawson (actress)
46 - Daniel Franzese (actor)
60 - Sonja Sohn (actress)
62 - Dave Gahan (singer)
63 - John Corbett (actor)
68 - Wendy Crewson (actress)
71 - Amy Hill (actress)
73 - Alley Mills (actress)
75 - Billy Joel (singer)
77 - Anthony Higgins (actor)
78 - Candice Bergen (actress)
82 - Tommy Roe (singer)
90 - Alan Bennett (actor)
================================
Today in Sports History - May 9
1945 - The wartime government ban on horse racing was lifted, following the end of the World War II conflict in Europe.
1961 - Jim Gentile (Baltimore Orioles) set a major league baseball record when he hit a grand slam home run in two consecutive innings. The game was against the Minnesota Twins.
1984 - It took the Chicago White Sox 25 innings, spanning eight hours and six minutes over the course of two days, to finally defeat the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-6. (It was the longest game, in elapsed time, in MLB history.)
1987 - Eddie Murray (Baltimore Orioles) became the first player to switch hit homeruns in two consecutive games.
1993 - The Phoenix Suns beat the Los Angeles Lakers 112-104 in overtime to become the first NBA team to lose two playoff games at home and then come back to win three straight.
1995 - The Cleveland Indians tied a record when they recorded 8 runs before making an out. They beat the Minnesota Twins 10-0.
1997 - The San Diego Padres retired Randy Jones' #35.
1999 - Marshall McDougall of Florida State set several NCAA records in a baseball game against Maryland, hitting six home runs and recording 16 RBIs in a 25-2 victory.
2001 - In Accra, Ghana, at least 120 people died in a stampede at a soccer match.
2010 - Dallas Braden of the Oakland Athletics threw the 19th perfect game in MLB history in a 4-0 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.