May 9
1502 - Christopher Columbus left Cadiz, Spain, on his fourth and final trip to the Western Hemisphere.
1914 - President Woodrow Wilson, acting on a joint congressional resolution, 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.”
1961 - Federal Communications Commission chairman Newton N. Minow condemned TV programming as a "vast wasteland" in a speech to the National Association of Broadcasters.
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.
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 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.)
1974 - A concert in Cambridge, Massachusetts, prompted rock critic Jon Landau to write, "I saw rock and roll future and it's name is Bruce Springsteen."
1978 - The bullet-riddled body of former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro, who'd been abducted by the Red Brigades, was found in an automobile in the center of Rome.
1980 - Thirty-five people were killed when a freighter rammed the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay, Florida, causing a 1,400-foot section of the southbound span to collapse.
1994 - The South African parliament chose Nelson Mandela as president.
1994 - Kinshasa, the capital of Zaire, was placed under quarantine after an outbreak of Ebola virus.
2004 - Chechnya's Moscow-backed leader, Akhmad Kadyrov, was killed in a bombing. Six others were killed and another 60 wounded.
2012 - President Barack Obama declared his unequivocal support for same-sex marriage in a historic announcement that came three days after Vice President Joe Biden spoke in favor of such unions on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
2017 - President Donald Trump abruptly fired FBI Director James Comey, ousting the nation’s top law enforcement official in the midst of an FBI investigation into whether Trump’s campaign had ties to Russia’s meddling in the election that sent him to the White House.
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 - The Food and Drug Administration approved a coronavirus antigen test that could quickly detect virus proteins from swabs that were swiped inside the naval cavity.
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
20 - Cree Cicchino (actress)
21 - Alexandra Chaves (actress)
26 - Mary Mouser (actress)
36 - Grace Gummer (actress)
37 - Audrina Patridge (TV personality)
40 - Rachel Boston (actress)
43 - Rosario Dawson (actress)
44 - Daniel Franzese (actor)
47 - Tamia (singer)
60 - Dave Gahan (singer)
61 - John Corbett (actor)
66 - Wendy Crewson (actress)
69 - Amy Hill (actress)
71 - Alley Mills (actress)
73 - Billy Joel (singer)
75 - Anthony Higgins (actor)
76 - Candice Bergen (actress)
80 - Tommy Roe (singer)
85 - James L. Brooks (producer)
86 - Glenda Jackson (actress)
88 - Alan Bennett (actor)
=============================================
Today in Sports History - May 9
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 two days), to finally defeat the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-6. It was the longest game (in elapsed time) in major league 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 the #35 jersey of pitcher Randy Jones.
1999 - Marshall McDougall of Florida State set NCAA baseball records with six consecutive home runs and 16 RBIs in a 25-2 win over Maryland.
2001 - In Accra, Ghana, at least 120 people died in a stampede at a soccer match.
2010 - Dallas Braden pitched the 19th perfect game in major league history, leading the Oakland Athletics in a 4-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays.
2021 - Trainer Bob Baffert announced that Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit had tested positive for an excessive amount of a steroid. (State racing stewards disqualified Medina Spirit in February 2022, ten weeks after the horse’s death from a heart attack; they declared second-place finisher Mandaloun the Derby winner.)
1502 - Christopher Columbus left Cadiz, Spain, on his fourth and final trip to the Western Hemisphere.
1914 - President Woodrow Wilson, acting on a joint congressional resolution, 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.”
1961 - Federal Communications Commission chairman Newton N. Minow condemned TV programming as a "vast wasteland" in a speech to the National Association of Broadcasters.
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.
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 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.)
1974 - A concert in Cambridge, Massachusetts, prompted rock critic Jon Landau to write, "I saw rock and roll future and it's name is Bruce Springsteen."
1978 - The bullet-riddled body of former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro, who'd been abducted by the Red Brigades, was found in an automobile in the center of Rome.
1980 - Thirty-five people were killed when a freighter rammed the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay, Florida, causing a 1,400-foot section of the southbound span to collapse.
1994 - The South African parliament chose Nelson Mandela as president.
1994 - Kinshasa, the capital of Zaire, was placed under quarantine after an outbreak of Ebola virus.
2004 - Chechnya's Moscow-backed leader, Akhmad Kadyrov, was killed in a bombing. Six others were killed and another 60 wounded.
2012 - President Barack Obama declared his unequivocal support for same-sex marriage in a historic announcement that came three days after Vice President Joe Biden spoke in favor of such unions on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
2017 - President Donald Trump abruptly fired FBI Director James Comey, ousting the nation’s top law enforcement official in the midst of an FBI investigation into whether Trump’s campaign had ties to Russia’s meddling in the election that sent him to the White House.
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 - The Food and Drug Administration approved a coronavirus antigen test that could quickly detect virus proteins from swabs that were swiped inside the naval cavity.
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
20 - Cree Cicchino (actress)
21 - Alexandra Chaves (actress)
26 - Mary Mouser (actress)
36 - Grace Gummer (actress)
37 - Audrina Patridge (TV personality)
40 - Rachel Boston (actress)
43 - Rosario Dawson (actress)
44 - Daniel Franzese (actor)
47 - Tamia (singer)
60 - Dave Gahan (singer)
61 - John Corbett (actor)
66 - Wendy Crewson (actress)
69 - Amy Hill (actress)
71 - Alley Mills (actress)
73 - Billy Joel (singer)
75 - Anthony Higgins (actor)
76 - Candice Bergen (actress)
80 - Tommy Roe (singer)
85 - James L. Brooks (producer)
86 - Glenda Jackson (actress)
88 - Alan Bennett (actor)
=============================================
Today in Sports History - May 9
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 two days), to finally defeat the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-6. It was the longest game (in elapsed time) in major league 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 the #35 jersey of pitcher Randy Jones.
1999 - Marshall McDougall of Florida State set NCAA baseball records with six consecutive home runs and 16 RBIs in a 25-2 win over Maryland.
2001 - In Accra, Ghana, at least 120 people died in a stampede at a soccer match.
2010 - Dallas Braden pitched the 19th perfect game in major league history, leading the Oakland Athletics in a 4-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays.
2021 - Trainer Bob Baffert announced that Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit had tested positive for an excessive amount of a steroid. (State racing stewards disqualified Medina Spirit in February 2022, ten weeks after the horse’s death from a heart attack; they declared second-place finisher Mandaloun the Derby winner.)
