coverbrowser.com |
Rambling observations on books, history, movies, transit, obsolete technology, baseball, and anything else that crosses my mind.
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San Mateo County moved to Purple on the California watch list. COVID-19 is raging through several rural states. Many idiots refuse to wear masks.
Some restaurants have reopened for indoor dining, but only at 25% capacity.
The Dodgers reached the World Series.
My wife and daughter, both teachers, are heading back to the classroom soon.
The fire up north, burning since August, is 100% contained, but still burning.
Brooklyn Eagle, 11-October-1920 |
Well, darn it, the Dodgers beat the Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series. This was the Dodgers' first appearance and first win since 1988. I guess this was a fitting conclusion to a bizarre season.
100 years ago this month, the Cleveland Indians beat the Dodgers, often called the Superbas or the Robins, in the World Series. Cleveland second baseman Bill Wambsganss made the first, and so far the only, unassisted triple play in a World Series game. There have been only 15 unassisted triple plays in the Major Leagues since 1900.
When Wambsganss was interviewed for Lawrence Ritter's classic book The Glory of Our Times, he complained that the unassisted triple play in the World Series was the only thing most people remembered about him.
listal.com |
Magician, escape artist and investigator James Randi has died, unless he is pulling our legs. I loved his book Conjuring.
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New York Evening World, 02-October-1920 |
The Hudson River Day Line ran steamships from New York City to Albany. The boats were popular because day-time running allowed people to watch the scenery.
Marine Review, 01-September-1904 |
Washington Evening Star, 06-October-1920 |
The Ford Motor Company repeatedly lowered the price of the Model T.
Engineering, 01-November-1895 |
125 years ago today, on 22-October-1895, a train entering the Montparnasse Railway Station in Paris, failed to stop and crashed through a wall. Falling debris killed a poor woman on the street. The crew and the passengers all survived.
San Francisco Call, 17-November-1895 |
SINGULAR RAILROAD ACCIDENT.
Morgan County, Tennessee Press, 22-October-1920 |
100 years ago today, on 22-October-1920, a grand jury indicted eight members of the Chicago White Sox and five gamblers for fixing the 1919 World Series.
Richmond Times-Dispatch, 31-October-1920 |
Among the "Satisfied Users of Reo Speed Wagons" was the "Coca-Cola Bottling Co., Emporia, Va.."
San Francisco Call, 23-May-1895 |
William A Coulter did many maritime drawings for the San Francisco Call.
Captain Mathew Turner, the ship
builder, has lately turned out two steamers for Alaskan waters which are now being shipped thither on the brig Geneva. One is the Alice, 160 feet long and about 400 tons burden, she contains over 100,000 feet of lumber and is being loaded onto the brig in sections.
The other is the little stern-wheel steamer Beaver. She weighs just seventeen tons, but when stripped of her boiler and wheel for hoisting aboard the Geneva, she will balance the scale at twelve tons. She draws about fifteen inches of water and is admirably fitted for the shallow tributaries of the Yukon, where she will be used. The vessel is of twenty tons burden and her engine is about thirty horse-power. She is without house or deck and her machinery, completely exposed, gives her an uncanny and skeleton-like appearance.
Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger, 18-October-1920 |
100 years ago today, on 17-October-1920, American journalist John Reed died in Moscow. He took a radical position on social and labor issues and supported the Bolshevik Revolution. I read his book Ten Days that Shook the World. I enjoyed the movie Reds, but I haven't seen it since we first saw it in a theater.
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New York Herald, 13-October-1920 |
The Sunset Limited was one of the Southern Pacific Railroad's premiere trains. This ad from October 1920, says that service, which had been cut back during the war, was being restored.
National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum |
I have always enjoyed the paintings of Albert Bierstadt. He painted "Emigrants Crossing the Plains" in 1869. It is preserved at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.
I was about to say that it has been a bad month for pitchers. Tom Seaver died at the end of August. Bob Gibson and Whitey Ford died in early October. Now Joe Morgan has died. Perhaps I should have said it has been a bad month for Hall of Famers.
I remember Joe Morgan as a key member of the Cincinnati Reds. Later he played for the Giants. He was a great second baseman. When the Giants first started running games on a cable channel called Giant Vision, he was one of the announcers. He knew more about baseball than almost anyone, but some people did not like his style. I thought he was fine with the Giants and later with ESPN. He should have been a manager.
Whitey Ford retired when I was young, but people talked and wrote about him all the time.
Bob Gibson terrorized batters with brushback pitches. He was a remarkable pitcher.
New York Herald, 13-October-1920 |
Carpentier Knocks Out Levinsky in the Fourth Round
New York Evening World, 13-October-1920 |
Cine-Journal, 09-March-1912 |
coverbrowser.com |
The cover of this issue of Ghost Stories includes the required scared lady in nightclothes.
Washington Times, 25-October 1919 |
I love George Herriman's Krazy Kat, especially when it gets metaphysical. Click on the image to see a larger version.
Perth Amboy Evening News, 04-October-1920 |
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Washington Evening Star, 04-October-1895 |
Harry Wright was a pioneering baseball player, manager and executive. He organized, managed and played for the Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first openly professional baseball team. After the Cincinnati club folded, Wright and many of his Cincinnati players moved to Boston and formed the Boston Red Stockings of the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, which were the direct ancestor of the Atlanta Braves. He died 125 years ago today, on 03-October-1895.
HARRY WRIGHT'S CAREER.
The Most Widely Known Man in Base Ball Circles.
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Singer and songwriter Don McLean was born 75 years ago today, on 02-October-1945. I was surprised when I first heard "American Pie" on KFRC. I remember people arguing about what it meant. I was part of the crew in a dance performance during a summer program and one of the songs was "Vincent." I still like that one.
I just put the October, 2020 version of my Cable Car Home Page on the server:
http://www.cable-car-guy.com/
It includes some new items:
1. Picture of the Month:
An 1840 view of Marsh Station on the London and Blackwall Railway.
2. On the Cable Trams in the UK page:
A ten year update about the London and Blackwall Railway, a pre-Hallidie cable-operated line
3. Added News updates about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, including a cable car made available for people to see and photograph three days a week.
Ten years ago this month (October, 2010):
1. The picture of the month:
An 1840 view of Marsh Station on the London and Blackwall Railway.
ilway, an automated electric line. Google Maps Streetview Image updated
Jun 2019. Copyright 2020 Google.
2. On the UK page: A new article about the London and Blackwall Railway, a pre-Hallidie cable-operated line
3. Added News and Bibliography items about the 48th Annual Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest. The gripmen and conductors chose to boycott the contest because of union/management issues
4. Add links to two sites: FunCheapSF and Railroad Parts: History for Kids
Twenty years ago this month (Fall, 2000):
1. Picture of the Quarter: Geary and Market
2. Roll out Excerpts From The Octopus page.
3. Join more webrings: Funicular, Trolley & Interurban, Tram, and International Transportation.
125 years ago this month:
The Lexington Avenue line of New York's Metropolitan Street Railway opened for service
Coming in October: On the Decorated Cable Cars page: A ten year update on the Giants' World Series of 2010
The Cable Car Home Page now has a Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/CableCarHomePage/
Joe Thompson
The Cable Car Home Page (updated 01-October-2020)
http://www.cable-car-guy.com/
San Francisco Bay Ferryboats (updated 31-January-2020)
http://www.cable-car-guy.com/ferry/
Park Trains and Tourist Trains (updated 31-July-2019)
http://www.cable-car-guy.com/ptrain/
The Pneumatic Rolling-Sphere Carrier Delusion (updated spasmodically)
http://cablecarguy.blogspot.com
The Big V Riot Squad (new blog)
http://bigvriotsquad.blogspot.com/
listal.com |
Singer, composer and arranger Donny Hathaway was born 75 years ago today, on 01-October-2020. He died way too young in 1979.