# Historical coincidences.. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 6, 2002, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-coincidences/107472 "2002-05-06T02:52:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2002, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-coincidences/107472/1 "2002-05-06T02:52:50Z")
In 1963, baseball pitcher Gaylord Perry remarked, “They’ll put a man on the moon before I hit a home run.” On July 20, 1969, a few hours after Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, Gaylord Perry hit his first, and only, home run. Got any? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2002, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-coincidences/107472/2 "2002-05-06T03:24:23Z")
Perry will be crushed to learn that the five home runs he hit after that year don’t count. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2002, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-coincidences/107472/3 "2002-05-06T03:46:22Z")
Geez…was my source at least right about the first one?? Marks that one off my list too. ---
**Author:** ![lenin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3bc359/32.png) [@lenin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lenin)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2002, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-coincidences/107472/4 "2002-05-06T04:27:18Z")
Four of the first five U.S. presidents died on July 4th. Spooky. ---
**Author:** ![stankow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@stankow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stankow)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2002, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-coincidences/107472/5 "2002-05-06T04:41:46Z")
Only two of the first three, actually – Adams and Jefferson. The spooky part was that it was July 4th, 1826 – fifty years to the day after the Declaration of Independence is considered to have been signed (it was actually done over several days, and some signatures were added months later). And Adams’ dying words? “Thomas Jefferson survives.” Except that he hadn’t – he predeceased Adams by a few hours. ---
**Author:** ![Mystery\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f14d63/32.png) [@Mystery\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mystery_Dog)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2002, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-coincidences/107472/6 "2002-05-06T13:19:30Z")
It was actually three of the first five presidents. Besides Adams and Jefferson, fifth president [James Monroe](http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0760590.html) died on that date in 1831. ---
**Author:** ![stankow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@stankow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stankow)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2002, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-coincidences/107472/7 "2002-05-06T14:46:00Z")
Bugger. I always forget Monroe. I looked up John Q. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-coincidences/107472/8 "2002-05-07T01:37:36Z")
**Reeder** Perry actually DID hit his first home run that Sunday night. It only took me 30 min. to run to library tonight and read microfilm for scores from that Sunday. But whether Perry said _in 1963_ that men would walk on moon before he hit homerun is gonna be harder to prove. It sounds just _too_ convenient to me. ---
**Author:** ![Ell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47774/32.png) [@Ell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ell)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-coincidences/107472/9 "2002-05-07T01:54:27Z")
Stephen Hawking was born exactly 300 years after, to the day, Galileo’s death. ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-coincidences/107472/10 "2002-05-07T02:11:14Z")
Ok, so the Society of the Red Hand sends out some guys to snuff Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Somehow these guys bungle planting the carbomb, so the archduke’s procession continues. The archduke’s driver in the confusion, however makes a wrong turn down a random street. Gavril Princip, 19 year old university student and another Red Hand member, has been sitting around bored waiting for his friends to blow the archduke to bits, but gets a hankering for some grub and goes to a sandwich shop. As he finishes up and walks out of the shop, he comes upon the Archduke’s car, parked along the same street in front of the sandwich place. He happens to be packing heat. Thus WWI begins. ---
**Author:** ![Already\_in\_Use](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Already\_in\_Use](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Already_in_Use)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-coincidences/107472/11 "2002-05-07T08:05:39Z")
Not as weird as Adams and Jefferson, but if I recall correctly, Shakespeare and Cervantes both died April 23, 1616. I was born 29 years after the death of Albert Einstein. OK, so it’s not really of cosmic significance or anything. So screw me. ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-coincidences/107472/12 "2002-05-07T13:39:06Z")
On August 2, 1492, the Jews were expelled from Spain. The next day, Columbus set sail from Palos de la Frontera in the general direction of North America. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![Doubting\_Robert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e495f1/32.png) [@Doubting\_Robert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doubting_Robert)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-coincidences/107472/13 "2002-05-07T19:50:54Z")
On November 7th, 1941, my sister was born. Exactly one month later, December 7th, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. On July 14th, 1945, I was born. Exactly one month later, August 14th, 1945, the Japanese surrendered. (The official peace treaty was not signed until September.) It’s a good thing that my parents didn’t have any other children. ---
**Author:** ![Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/db5fbb/32.png) [@Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-coincidences/107472/14 "2002-05-07T20:49:03Z")
Abe Lincoln and Charles Darwin were both born on February 12, 1809. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-coincidences/107472/15 "2002-05-09T10:06:29Z")
I’ve said this before, but both Aldous Huxley and C.S. Lewis died on 11/22/63. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-coincidences/107472/16 "2002-05-09T11:41:14Z")
> [@](#): > > Not as weird as Adams and Jefferson, but if I recall correctly, Shakespeare and Cervantes both died April 23, 1616. True, yet there were some 1-2 weeks between the two deaths. Catholic Spain had already switched to the Gregorian Calendar, Protestant Britain not, so the day that was April 23, 1616 in Spain was an earlier date in Britain (not sure about the exact difference, though). April 23 also was Shakespeare’s birthday. Julius Caesar made some remark about the advantages of dying unexpectedly when he was on his way to the forum on April 15, 44 BC. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-coincidences/107472/17 "2002-05-09T11:42:20Z")
March 15, 44 BC, that is. Sorry.