The 1989 World Series was played between the National League champion San Francisco Giants and the American League champion Oakland A’s. Originally billed as the ‘Bay Bridge Series’, it quickly became known as the ‘Earthquake Series’, as a magnitude 6.9 earthquake rocked the area just 17 minutes before the start of Game 3. The series was delayed for 10 days before being resumed. Game 1 had been played on October 14, and the final game, Game 4, was played on October 28. The A’s swept the series, four games to none, and was the third time in history that the winning team never trailed in any game.
George H.W. Bush, Republican of Texas, was sworn into office as President of the United States on Jan. 20, 1989. He was only the second incumbent Vice President after Martin van Buren to become President, leaving one post and beginning the other without interruption after being elected in his own right. And, although no one knew it at the time, he would also in 2001 become only the second President after John Adams to have his own son become President.
Both George H.W. Bush and his son, George W. Bush, have been involved in the sport of baseball.
While attending Yale University after World War II, the elder Bush was the captain of Yale’s baseball team, and played in the first two College World Series. The younger Bush was part-owner, and managing general partner, of the Texas Rangers baseball team from 1989 until 1994; when he was elected governor of Texas, Bush stepped down from the managing general partner position, and he sold his stake in the team in 1998.
A young GHWB in 1948 got to meet the ailing Babe Ruth, just months before the baseball great died: Babe Ruth met future President George H.W. Bush in 1948 | For The Win
Very cool trivia!
In 1948, a cancer-stricken Babe Ruth donated an original manuscript of his autobiography to Yale University. He presented the gift in an on-field ceremony at Yale Field, where he was greeted by the Bulldogs’ baseball team captain, young George H.W. Bush.
Not a play, just a nicely done and thank you to @kenobi_65.
Ruth’s Chris Steak House is a chain of over 100 steakhouses across the United States, Canada and Mexico. The original restaurant in New Orleans was known as Chris Steak House burned down in 1976 and the owner, Ruth Fertel, could not use the name Chris Steak House at any other location due to contractual agreements. So to keep the continuity and get around the agreement, Ruth’s Chris Steak House was born.
Not part of answer: I been to a Ruth’s; yes it is very, very expensive; and yes, it is very, very good.
Press on.
Eating beef was such an engrained part of English cuisine that it entered the French language in two ways.
“Un rosbif” was a slang term for an Englishman, derived from “roast beef”, while the term for a beef steak in French is “bifteck” (now spelt as “biftèque”).
In 2016, Uruguay consumed the most beef per capita in the world, followed by Argentina and then Hong Kong. All three countries consumed more than 100 pounds of beef per capita. The United States consumed the 4th most beef per capita in the world.
It’s estimated that each American consumes about 50 pounds of beef a year on average.
The country of Uruguay gained independence from Spain in 1811. It was then annexed by Brazil. In 1825, Uruguay and Argentina formed a federation that lasted until 1828, when Uruguay became an independent nation.
Montevideo, the capital city of Uruguay, played host to the first FIFA World Cup tournament in 1930.
The German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee was scuttled by her crew off the coast of Montevideo, Uruguay on Dec. 17, 1939, after being cornered there by the British Royal Navy, just a few months after the outbreak of World War II. Wreckage of the ship has been recovered as recently as 2006.
Friedrich Spee was a German Jesuit priest, professor, and poet in the early 17th Century, most well-known as a forceful opponent of witch trials, and one who was an insider writing from the epicenter of the European witch-phobia. Spee argued strongly against the use of torture, and as an eyewitness he gathered a book full of details regarding its cruelty and unreliability.
Torture was permitted as part of criminal investigations in New France, prior to the British conquest. It was abolished by the British.
ALF, American LaFrance, manufactured fire trucks, ambulances, and other rescue vehicles from 1873 to 2014. ALF was headquartered in Summerville SC and was owned by Daimler Trucks North America. In 1947 ALF revolutionized fire engine design by utilizing the cab-forward design that put the driver ahead of the engine and greatly improved visibility and safety. It announced cessation of operations in 2014 due to financial struggles. Currently, Pierce Manufacturing out of Appleton WI, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oshkosh Corporation, is the largest fire apparatus company in the world.
OshKosh B’gosh is an apparel brand, originally made by the Grove Manufacturing Company, which was founded in Oshkosh, Wisconsin in 1895. The company adopted the fanciful “OshKosh B’gosh” name in 1937, after the company’s general manager heard the term in a vaudeville routine.
OshKosh B’gosh initially made work clothes, particularly their trademark overalls, for adults, but their line of children’s clothes became more popular in the 1980s and 1990s, and it no longer makes clothing for adults at all.
William Bankhead (D-Alabama) was Speaker of the House in 1937. He served as Speaker of the House from 1936 to 1940 under President FDR. In 1940 he died at the age of 66.
He was the father of actress Tallulah Bankhead. She, too, died at the age of 66, in 1968.
Speaker-to-Animals (later known as Chmeee) is a junior Kzinti diplomat who is trained to deal with other species without reflexively killing them. His title is a polite reference to how Kzinti refer to non-Kzin races. As a member of the Kzin species, Speaker-to-Animals is extremely dangerous and always ready to fight despite the fact that he is a diplomat. He appears in the “Ringword” series by Larry Niven.
In a 1956 episode of the TV show, What’s My Line?, on October 21, actor David Niven (1910-1983), who was a Lieutenant Colonel in the British Army and served two stints (1930-1933 and 1940-1945), was unexpectedly reunited with one of the men he served with. Alexander McGeachin was a guest on the show that day, and when his turn in the questioning came up Niven asked,
“Were you in a famous British regiment on Malta?”
After McGeachin affirmed that he was, Niven quipped, “Did you have the misfortune to have me as your officer?”
Niven and McGeachin had a brief but pleasant (and unplanned) reunion.
David Niven won the 1958 Academy Award for Best Actor, for his role in the film Separate Tables. Niven was the host for that year’s ceremony, making him the only person to receive an Academy Award in the same ceremony which he or she hosted.
Niven only appeared on screen for 23 minutes in Separate Tables, making it the briefest Best Actor appearance until Anthony Hopkins won the 1992 Best Actor for Silence of the Lambs, in which he appeared for only 16 minutes.
Johns Hopkins (1795–1873) was an American entrepreneur, investor, philanthropist and slave owner of 19th-century Baltimore MD. His bequests founded numerous institutions bearing his name, most notably Johns Hopkins Hospital, and Johns Hopkins University. Both institutions are in Baltimore.