Today is the birthday
… of Roger Mudd, 82.
… of Nobel Prize-winner J.M. Coetzee. He’s 70.
… of Carole King. Tonight You’re Mine Completely, You Give Your Love So Sweetly — at 68.
… of Joe Pesci. Tommy DeVito is no longer a “yute,” he’s 67.
… of Barbara Lewis. Baby I’m Yours and I’ll be Yours Until the Stars Fall from the Sky — or until she’s 66.
… of Alice Walker. One assumes her birthday cake is The Color Purple as she turns 66 today.
… of Mia Farrow. The former Mrs. André Previn, Mrs. Frank Sinatra and significant other of Woody Allen is 65.
… of Senator Jim Webb, 64.
… of Travis Tritt. He’s 47. Here’s A Quarter (Call Someone Who Cares).
… of Julie Warner. Vialula is 45 today.
Bill Veeck ,the man who brought a dwarf (Eddie Gaedel) to bat in the major leagues, was born on this date in 1914. Veeck was owner of three different major league franchises (Cleveland Indians, St. Louis Browns and Chicago White Sox) and created many of the publicity innovations we take for granted today. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991. As told in the first chapter of Veeck’s autobiography, Veeck as in Wreck: “When Eddie went into that crouch, his strike zone was just about visible to the naked eye. I picked up a ruler and measured it for posterity. It was 1-1/2 inches. Marvelous.”
Samuel J. Tilden was born on this date in 1814. Along with Andrew Jackson in 1824 and Albert Gore in 2000, Tilden in 1876 shares the honor of winning the popular vote and having the electoral vote stolen from him.
Bill Veeck is perhaps most notable for planting the greenery that still covers the outfield walls in Wrigley Field. Team owner P.K. Wrigley, Jr., asked Veeck to give the field a more outdoorsy feel. On the night of September 3, 1937, the grounds crew strung a string of lights along the top of the outfield wall to provide light for Veeck and his gardeners, who overnight planted 350 fast-growing Japanese Bittersweet vines and 200 slower-growing Ivy. It took several years for the vines to completely cover the brick walls.
Veeck also integrated the Cleveland Indians (1947) and the American League, signing Larry Doby and later Satchel Paige to the Indians who went on to win the 1948 World Series.