August 17 Foul balls batter unlucky Philadelphia Phillies fan "On August 17, 1957, Alice Roth experiences what surely is one of the worst days any spectator has had at a Major League Baseball game. After being struck by a foul ball off the bat of future Hall of Famer Richie Ashburn, Roth is being treated for a broken nose when the Philadelphia Phillies' star fouls off the very next pitch, hitting her in the leg and breaking it. The incredibly unlikely incident is unique in baseball history." "Roth’s husband, Earl, was the Philadelphia Bulletin sports editor, so the couple regularly attended Phillies games. On this occasion, they were sitting in the press box behind the third-base dugout along with their grandsons to watch the home team play the New York Giants. Ashburn, an accomplished hitter who retired in 1962 with a .308 batting average, was adept at frustrating pitchers by fouling off pitches." "The unlucky Roth was taken to a nearby hospital. Perhaps to salvage their relationship with the sports editor of a local paper, the Phillies invited Earl Roth and his grandchildren into their clubhouse after the game, giving the kids free tickets and an autographed baseball. Visiting her in the hospital later that day, one of her grandchildren reportedly asked Roth, “Grandma, do you think you could go to an Eagles game and get hit in the face with a football?” "Roth appears to have taken her misfortune in stride, striking up a friendship with Ashburn after he visited her the next day. Ashburn would go down as one of Philadelphia’s most beloved sportsmen, following his brilliant on-field career with a broadcasting career that lasted until his death in 1997. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1995. Roth’s son would later become the Phillies’ batboy, and Alice Roth continued to attend games."
August 18 Japan's Gift of Friendship 1909 Mayor of Tokyo Yukio Ozaki presents Washington, D.C. with 2,000 cherry trees, which President Taft decides to plant near the Potomac River 27th US President William Howard Taft Gehrig's 1,000 Game Streak 1931 Lou Gehrig hitless in Detroit, his 1,000th consecutively played game Lou Gehrig
August will be the only month in 2023 with 2 full moons. The first was on August 1st. The second one, starting the evening of Wednesday, August 30th, will also be the last Super Moon for 2023. It will appear opposite the Sun from the Earth at 9:36 PM EDT. When a full moon happens twice in one month the second one is called a Blue Moon according to the most recent definition. "Once in a Blue moon" is a phrase commonly used to describe an incredibly rare event, but Blue Moons occur once every 2 to 3 years.
"The Marcels were an American doo-wop group known for turning popular music songs into rock and roll. The group formed in 1959 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and signed to Colpix Records, with lead Cornelius Harp, bass Fred Johnson, Gene Bricker, Ron Mundy, and Richard Knauss. The group was named after a popular hair style of the day, the marcel wave, by Fred Johnson's younger sister Priscilla." THE MARCELS - "BLUE MOON" (1961) "In 1961 many were surprised to hear a new version of the ballad "Blue Moon", that began with the bass singer saying, "bomp-baba-bomp" and "dip-da-dip." The record sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. It is featured in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll."
Ah August, Ah-Choo! For most of the United States, hay fever starts in August. It is caused by ragweed pollen. Does anyone here suffer from hay fever in August? One year when I was a child, out of nowhere, my mother developed severe hay fever symptoms near the end of summer. It lasted a couple of weeks. She had to use extra pillows to sleep in an almost upright position at night to breathe. It came back every year for a few years. Then it disappeared and never came back! Just about that time Dristan (antihistamine) first came on the market OTC and it helped. She always assumed Dristan had something to do with making it disappear. I think she may have been right. Five Myths and Truths about Hay Fever #2. Hay fever is something you grow out of "Typically we might assume that hay fever starts when you’re a child and gradually wears off as you get older. The good news is that half of people do find their symptoms ease a bit with age, and for a lucky 20% they disappear completely. It can also happen the other way around. There are people who never experienced hay fever as children or teenagers who find they’re struck down with symptoms for the first time in their 30s and 40s." VERDICT: True, but only if you’re lucky
A George Carlin song I just suddenly felt like singing this one. It's an oldie, but a goodie. lyrics I sent my sinuses to Arizona, I sent my liver to Peru, I sent my lungs and my kidney for the summer to Sydney, But I'm sendin' my heart to you....
August 19 1960 Yankee Rowe Nuclear Power Station "The first commercial atomic energy reactor, owned by the Yankee Atomic Electric Company, achieves a self-sustaining nuclear reaction in Rowe, Deerfield River, Massachusetts." 1966 "Beatles pelted with rotten fruit and firecrackers during concert at Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis, Tennessee; Ku Klux Klan demonstrated outside the show and burned records."
August 20 1911 Mona Lisa stolen "On this day in 1911 Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre by three Italian handymen; it was not recovered until 1913, and the media sensation helped make it one of the world's most famous paintings." Jerry Lee Lewis - Mona Lisa
August 21 1972, 1st hot air balloon flight over Alps 2017, Total solar eclipse visible from North America "The solar eclipse of August 21, 2017, dubbed the "Great American Eclipse" by some media, was a total solar eclipse visible within a band that spanned the contiguous United States from the Pacific to the Atlantic coasts. It was also visible as a partial solar eclipse from as far north as Nunavut in northern Canada to as far south as northern South America." Wikipedia