Curse of The Bambino

The Bambino

After winning the 1918 World Series, the Boston Red Sox shocked the baseball world by selling their star player Babe Ruth to their arch rivals, the New York Yankees. With this acquisition, the Yankees became a better team over the years, and the Red Sox would go an incredible 86 years without winning another World Series. Many blamed the sale of Ruth to New York for Boston's long lasting post season misfortunes, eventually referring to it as 'The Curse of The Bambino'.

In 2004 the curse would be finally broken, with Boston overcoming an 0-3 deficit and defeating the New York Yankees in four straight games. Boston would face St. Louis in the World Series, winning the series 4-0. Cardinals shortstop Edgar Renteria, who wore #3, which was Babe Ruth's number with the Yankees, hit into the final out of the game giving the Red Sox the Championship, finally putting 'The Curse of The Bambino' to rest.

The Royal Theatre

Royal Theatre pictured in 1960

Opened in 1922 on Pennsylvania Avenue in Baltimore, Maryland, the Royal Theatre featured films as well as live shows by black entertainers, many of whom would go on to become icons in show business. Among the list of greats hosted at the Royal are Billie Holiday, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, The Supremes, Jackie Wilson, The Temptations, and James Brown.

The Royal Theatre was torn down in the late 70's after four decades of operation. Today, Marquee Plaza stands on the Royal Theatre's site, symbolizing its' great contributions to not only Black History, but to the music industry as a whole.

A Spy Story With Legs

In this rare undated picture, Marina Lee appears as no more than the ballerina star she was during the World War II years. However, recently declassified papers from British Intelligence present her otherwise. As a German secret agent with striking beauty, Lee was somehow able to infiltrate Allied Defense offices, stealing battle plans of attack and turning them over to the Nazis.

Her accomplishments are credited with contributing to the fall of Norway to the Nazis early in the war. Intelligence from the French included the entry: Very nice legs.

Civil War Navy

The USS Monitor was a single turret naval vessel that was launched during the Civil War and saw battle until it was lost at sea on December 31, 1862. Over the years, several other monitors were added to the fleet and joined in the war.

It should be noted that the word 'monitor', while reflecting the name of the Navy's original vessel, became a reference term for all shallow-draft type vessels. The US Monitor Onondaga, a double turreted vessel, is pictured in 1864 near Aikens Landing, Virginia along the James River.

Harpers Ferry, WV 1862

The Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers come together in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, where the railroad bridge is pictured in ruins after the Battle of Harpers Ferry in September 1862.

The Shot Heard 'Round The World!

At the Polo Grounds on October 3, 1951, Bobby Thomson, with his hand raised, is greeted at home plate by his New York Giants teammates after hitting what was to become known as the most famous home run in baseball history. Hit in the bottom of the ninth inning, the home run resulted in a series victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers, and would send the Giants to face the New York Yankees in the World Series.

Bobby Thomson passed away on Monday August 16, 2010 at the age of 86 in his Savannah, Georgia home. His famous home run will always be remembered as the shot heard 'round the world!.

City Gate

Kalgan, a gate to the Great Wall of China-1899

In his memoirs about a family trip to China in 1899, Herbert Hoover recalls his Christmas Eve stop in the town of Kalgan. While there, he met an American medical team doing missionary work. He describes the Christmas dinner he had there as a 'good one, but the fine American faces were a better tonic'.

Coventry Cathedral

Winston Churchill tours the roofless ruins of Coventry Cathedral after it was almost completely destroyed by a World War II bombing in November of 1940. Located in West Midlands, England, St. Michael's Cathedral, as it became known, was constructed between the late 14th and early 15th centuries.

In the post-war years, a new cathedral was erected directly adjacent to the old cathedral ruins, as seen in the above picture. 

First Communion

For decades, NASA kept quiet the fact that Apollo 11 Lunar Pilot Buzz Aldrin made history of his own shortly after he and Neil Armstrong landed on the moon on July 20, 1969. Aldrin held a prayer service in the lunar module and actually took Communion from a small communion kit, provided him by his pastor at the Webster Presbyterian Church in Houston.

Atheist Madelyn O'Hare had filed a lawsuit against NASA shortly after astronauts read from the Bible during the Christmas Eve 1968 orbit of the Moon by Apollo 8. In order to avoid another lawsuit and to preserve the historic value of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing, NASA imposed a radio blackout during Aldrin's private service, unbeknownst to the rest of the world.

A Symbolic Journey

In 1930, Dr. Clyde William Tombaugh, pictured above, was credited with discovering the dwarf planet Pluto. On January 19, 2006, nine years after his death in 1997, NASA launched the New Horizons, a robotic spacecraft which is currently on its' way to Pluto. The craft, which is expected to fly by Pluto on July 14, 2015, is carrying several non-scientific articles of symbolic relevance including some of Clyde Tombaugh's ashes.

A small circular cylinder containing some of Dr. Tombaugh's ashes is pictured attached to the inside of the New Horizons spacecraft.

Eastern State Penitentiary

Opened on October 25, 1829, Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia was the largest public building project of its' time. The wheel shaped structure was designed to primarily keep inmates isolated from each other as well as the outside world, the belief being that this would be beneficial to their spiritual rehabilitation. Economic reasons as well as overcrowding eventually led to the prison closing in 1971. Today, Eastern State's massive walls provide tourists with their own original form of deteriorating beauty as a result of being abandoned for many years.

Thru the years, Eastern State housed such famous criminals as Willie "The Actor" Sutton, and Alphonse "Scarface" Capone, and was also the setting for many television shows as well as Hollywood movies. In order to safely protect visitors from its' ongoing decay, the penitentiary is currently maintained in a state of  'preserved ruin'.

Hockey Comes Indoors

The first organized indoor game of ice hockey was played on March 3, 1875 at the Victoria Skating Rink in Montreal, Canada. In 1893, this photograph was taken by William Notman during a game in the same building.