Today in History 11/18/16

Today in History
(1966) Sandy Koufax, pitcher for Dodgers, retires at 30
1966 After a World Series loss, Dodgers ace Koufax announces his retirement due to a bad elbow. Koufax posted impressive stats in his 12 seasons, including three Cy Young Awards. But he may be best remembered for refusing to pitch in a Series game that fell on Yom Kippur..

Sanford “Sandy” Koufax is a former American Major League Baseball left-handed pitcher. He pitched 12 seasons for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers, from 1955 to 1966. Koufax, at age 36 in 1972, became the youngest player ever elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Born: Dec 30, 1935 (age 80) · Brooklyn, NY
Height: 6′ 2″ (1.88 m)
Net worth: $10 million USD (2016)
Spouse: Kimberly Francis (m. 1985 – 1998) · Anne Koufax (m. 1969 – 1982)
Education: Lafayette High School · University of Cincinnati · Columbia University · Columbia University School of General Studies
Parents: Evelyn Lichtenstein (Mother) · Jack Braun (Father)

Highlights

  • 1955: Koufax made only 12 appearances in 1955, pitching  41 2⁄3 innings and walking almost as many men (28) as he struck out (30).

  • 1955: Koufax made his major league debut on June 24, 1955 against the Milwaukee Braves, with the Dodgers trailing 7–1 in the fifth inning.

  • 1959: On August 31, 1959, he surpassed his career high with 18 strikeouts, setting the NL record and tying Bob Feller’s major league record for strikeouts in one game.

  • 1961: Posting an 18–13 record for the Dodgers in 1961, Koufax led the league with 269 strikeouts, breaking Christy Mathewson’s 58-year-old NL mark of 267.

  • 1965: On September 9, 1965, Koufax became the sixth pitcher of the modern era, and eighth overall, to throw a perfect game, the first by a left-hander since 1880.

  • 1966: He pitched 6 1⁄3 innings in four All-Star games including being the starting pitcher for 3 innings in the 1966 All-Star Game.

— Source: wiki/Sandy_Koufax
(1976) Spain’s parliament approves bill to establish a democracy
A year after the death of Fascist dictator Francisco Franco, Spain’s parliament members essentially vote themselves out of office, approving a bill to transition to democracy by allowing elections and the creation of a two-chamber parliament. The bill will later be approved by public referendum.. 1976

The Spanish transition to democracy, or simply the Transition refers to the restoration of democracy in Spain after the death of Francisco Franco in 1975. The transition began shortly after Franco’s death on 20 November 1975, while its completion has been variously said to be marked by the Spanish Constitution of 1978, the failure of an attempted coup on 23 February 1981, or the electoral victory of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party on 28 October 1982. Though faced with political and economic at the time, the transition to democracy was one of the factors that allowed Spain to join the European Economic Community and NATO.

— Source: wiki/Spanish_transition_to_democracy
(1978) Over 900 die in mass murder-suicide in Jonestown, Guyana
1978 Following the murder of a visiting US congressman, American cult leader Jim Jones leads his followers in a mass murder-suicide that claims over 900 victims, a third of whom are children. Some are forced to drink cyanide-laced punch; others do so willingly. Jones shoots himself. .

James Warren “Jim” Jones was an American cult leader. Jones was the founder and leader of the Peoples Temple, infamous due to the mass murder-suicide in November 1978 of 918 of its members in Jonestown, Guyana, the murder of Congressman Leo Ryan, and the ordering of four additional Temple member deaths in Georgetown, the Guyanese capital. Nearly three hundred children were murdered at Jonestown, almost all of them by cyanide poisoning. Jones died from a gunshot wound to the head; it is suspected his death was a suicide.

Lived: May 13, 1931 – Nov 18, 1978 (age 47)
Height: 5′ 11″ (1.80 m)
Spouse: Marceline Jones (m. 1949 – 1978)
Children: Stephan Gandhi Jones (Son) · Lew Eric Jones (Son) · Timothy Glen Jones (Son) · Jim Jon Prokes (Son) · Stephanie Jones (Daughter) · Jim W. Jones Jr. (Son) · Suzanne O. Jones (Daughter)
Movies: Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple · Witness to Jonestown
Parents: Lynetta Putnam (Mother) · James Thurman Jones (Father)

Highlights

  • 1949: Jones married nurse Marceline Baldwin in 1949, and moved to Bloomington, Indiana.

  • 1971: The Temple repeatedly claimed that Jones fathered the child when, in 1971, Tim Stoen had requested that Jones have sex with Grace to keep her from defecting.

  • 1975: The move led to Jones and the Temple becoming politically influential in San Francisco politics, culminating in the Temple’s instrumental role in the mayoral election victory of George Moscone in 1975.

  • 1977: In order to avoid potentially giving up the boy in a custody dispute with Grace, Jones ordered Tim to take John to Guyana in February 1977.

  • 1977: In September 1977, California assemblyman Willie Brown served as master of ceremonies at a large testimonial dinner for Jones attended by Governor Jerry Brown and Lieutenant Governor Mervyn Dymally.

  • 1978: Stoen traveled to Washington, D.C. in January 1978 to visit with State Department officials and members of Congress, and wrote a “white paper” to Congress detailing his grievances against Jones and the Temple.

  • 1978: Jim Jones died on November 18, 1978 in Port Kaituma, Guyana.

— Source: wiki/Jim_Jones
(1991) After four years, British hostage is released in Lebanon
It’s over, thinks religious envoy Waite after being freed by his Shiite Muslim captors. Waite had been kidnapped four years earlier on a trip to secure the release of others held in Lebanon and Iran. He suffered beatings, mock executions, and languished in solitary confinement before his release. . 1991

Terence Hardy “Terry” Waite CBE is an English humanitarian and author. Waite was the Assistant for Anglican Communion Affairs for the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie, in the 1980s. As an envoy for the Church of England, he travelled to Lebanon to try to secure the release of four hostages, including the journalist John McCarthy. He was himself kidnapped and held captive from 1987 to 1991.The terrible thing about terrorism is that ultimately it destroys those who practice it. Slowly but surely, as they try to extinguish life in others, the light within them dies.

Born: May 31, 1939 (age 77) · Bollington, United Kingdom
Height: 6′ 7″ (2.01 m)

Highlights

  • 1963: In 1963, Waite was appointed Education Advisor to the Anglican Bishop of Bristol, Oliver Tomkins, and assisted with Tomkins’s implementation of the SALT (Stewardship and Laity Training) programme in the diocese, along with Basil Moss.

  • 1969: In 1969, he moved to Uganda where he worked as Provincial Training Advisor to Erica Sabiti, the first African Anglican Archbishop of Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi and, in that capacity, travelled extensively throughout East Africa.

  • 1980: In 1980, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie, appointed him the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Assistant for Anglican Communion Affairs on the recommendation of Tomkins and Bishop John Howe.

  • 1984: On 10 November 1984, he negotiated with Colonel Gaddafi for the release of the four remaining British hostages held in the Libyan Hostage Situation, Michael Berdinner, Alan Russell, Malcolm Anderson and Robin Plummer and was again successful.

  • 1985: From 1985, Waite became involved in hostage negotiation in Lebanon, and he assisted in successful negotiations which secured the release of Lawrence Jenco and David Jacobsen.

  • 1987: The group broke trust and took him hostage on 20 January 1987.

— Source: wiki/Terry_Waite
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