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Journalists Recall JFK Assassination 50 Years Later

 Photo Credit:  Walt Cisco/Dallas Morning News via Wikimedia Commons

 Photo Credit: Carl Mydans, Time Life Pictures/Getty Images

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As we inch closer and closer to the 50 year anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the tributes, commemoration events, special documentaries, the resurrection of conspiracy theories, chilling photo galleries and video footage of that ill-fated day, will be coming thick and fast from newspapers, online news sites, blogs, and television networks in the days ahead.

It doesn’t really seem to matter how many books and articles you’ve read, the amount of documentaries and stacks of pictures you’ve sifted through-what took place in a blink of an eye at about 1:30 EST on November 22, 1963,  when the 35^th president of the United States was ruthlessly gunned down, presumably by a lone assassin, while his motorcade traveled through Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas-is best relived by the people who remember that painfully dark, tragic Friday afternoon and are still around to share their vivid recollections.

As a result, I reached out to some of my favorite journalists and asked if they could recall where they were and what they were doing when JFK was assassinated.

Here, then, are some shared memories.

 

``I was at the St. Louis Globe-Democrat that Friday putting the finishing touches on a major weekend feature piece on how Barry Goldwater could win in '64. When the news came in, I told the editor we had to kill the piece completely.  I saw the report on the ticker, and we headed for the TV room, just off the newsroom to watch it all.  Some of the women were crying.''

-Pat Buchanan, a senior advisor to three U.S. presidents, is an American conservative political commentator, author, syndicated columnist, broadcaster and author of 10 books, including: ``Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025?''

 

``I was working and covering the story for The Washington Star—I took David Broder’s dictation from Dallas (he was The Star’s political reporter at the time; I was a ‘dictation-clerk’—one step above copyboy, essentially an apprentice reporter), then and was sent to Capitol Hill, then outside the White House that Friday night,   and on through the events ending with JFK’s funeral and burial at Arlington.  (I’d gone to work for The Star as a copyboy when I was 16, during the Kennedy campaign in 1960, actually; I was 19 at the time of the assassination).''

-Carl Bernstein, American investigative journalist and author, who has recently agreed to write a memoir of his years as a cub reporter in Washington, titled:  “The Washington Star,” which is scheduled to be released in 2016.

 

``I was in New Haven, CT in my junior year in a class on French history.  The professor was lecturing on the Terror and the counter-revolution.  Someone went up and handed him a note.  It seemed very rude.  You never interrupted a lecture.  He looked at it and read, "The note I have been handed says that President Kennedy and Vice President Johnson have been shot in Dallas."  Pause.  "Class dismissed."  We all went to a television to watch Walter Cronkite announce that Kennedy had died.''  

-Bob Woodward, American investigative journalist and non-fiction author who has worked for The Washington Post since 1971, and now holds the position of associate editor.  Woodward's most recent book, ``The Price of Politics'' (a book chronicling the hostile turf battles between the executive and legislative branches in repairing the battered U.S. economy) was his 17th.

 

``I was a 14-year-old at Alice Deal Junior High in Washington, DC, decorating the gym with fellow student council members for a school dance that night. The school was largely deserted because it was a half day, due to a city wide public school teachers' meeting that had ended classes at noon. My friends and I heard the news from the school janitor who heard it on the radio. We found it hard to fathom -- maybe the story had been garbled? -- and had no access to television. So we decided to go home and find out what was going on. I will never forget walking on to Nebraska Avenue to catch a bus home and seeing how slowly the cars were moving -- not because of traffic but because clearly drivers were shocked by the news they were hearing on their car radios. I knew at that moment that the horrible bulletin we'd heard was true.''

-Frank Rich, American essayist, former New York Times op-ed columnist & writer, who is now an essayist and editor-at-large for New York magazine.

 

``I was in the third grade and my parents let me skip school that day, the family was driving from our home in Shreveport, La. to Fayetteville Ark.  to go to the University of Arkansas (my Father and both sisters alma mater) vs. Texas Tech football game.  We had the car radio on and as we drove through Texarkana we heard the first bulletin that shots had been fired at the President's motorcade and each of the subsequent ones (including one that reported that both the President and Vice President Johnson had been shot).  At one point, my Dad stopped the car and went into a bar to see if television had any more information (it didn't).  We were unsure whether to keep going to Fayetteville (would the game even be played?) or turn around and go home.  It was a major debate all over the country whether sporting events should be held or not.  The general conclusion was that the President would have wanted games to go on so I think a few were cancelled.  I don't remember who won the game.’’

-Charlie Cook, Editor and Publisher of the Cook Political Report and a political analyst for National Journal magazine, where he writes a twice weekly column.

 

 ``I was a student in political science and economics at McGill University in Montreal, and word reached the campus just as we were going into the first class of the afternoon -- on American history. We assumed the class would be cancelled, but the professor arrived on time, opened his notes, and said in a low, unstrained voice that he had changed the sequence of lectures, and would that day be speaking on a topic he had scheduled for the following term -- "Violence in the history of the American south". He made no mention of JFK or what had happened, and we sat there stunned, and silent. It was an unusual form of eulogy, but very powerful, and I can remember much of what he said that day today, 50 years on.''

-John F. Burns, British journalist, winner of two Pulitzer Prizes and Chief Foreign Correspondent of The New York Times based in London.

 

``I was discharged from the Army on Nov. 21, 1963, Fort Hood, Texas.  In the days leading up, I wrote to many papers. I had worked on a small paper before getting drafted two years earlier. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote back. They had a general assignment position open. The managing editor invited me for an interview.  We set it up for the day after I was discharged. I would stop in St. Louis on my way home to Cleveland. We scheduled the interview for 2 p.m. on Friday, November 22, 1963.

    I passed through Dallas Thursday evening. Went right through Dealey Plaza, right past the Texas School Book Depository. Got to St. Louis at 6 a.m. Friday.  I got a few hours of shut-eye at the Statler Hotel that morning. Still have the receipt-$6.50 for a serviceman in uniform. Got out of the shower at 12:30.  Had the black and white TV on for company. Noontime programming on KMOX-TV was a lady playing the piano. Suddenly, she stopped playing and an off-screen voice said the President had just been shot in Dallas.

    Selfishly, my first thought was about myself. All job interviews would be cancelled. I called the managing editor's office. I talked to his secretary. We agreed that I would fly home the next morning and I would call them in about a week to reschedule. I flew home to Cleveland Saturday.

    After the 12 o'clock Mass at St. Clement Church in Lakewood that Sunday, I  ran into an old family friend from the parish, J. Ralph Novak, who had once been a reporter for the Cleveland News. He was still in touch with his old newspaper friends. He told me that The Plain Dealer had an opening in sports. He said he would call sports editor Gordon Cobbledick and tell him I would be calling. I called Cobbledick Monday morning. He said come on down for an interview. I did and I got the job. They're still waiting for me to call them back in St. Louis. ‘’

-Dan Coughlin, who has covered the Cleveland sports scene for 45 years, is a former sportswriter for The Plain Dealer (1964–1982) and was additionally a broadcaster and commentator for WJW-TV 8 in Cleveland (1983–2009). Coughlin was inducted into the Press Club of Cleveland Journalism Hall of Fame in 1996.

 

***

JFK Assassination Facts:

• The type of gun used to kill Kennedy was a 6.5 millimeter Mannlicher-Carcano Italian military rifle, Model 91/38, Serial No: C2766. It's currently stored at the National Archives in College Park, MD., along with his shirt, the original windshield of the limousine, and the wrapping used to support his back.

•  The presidential limousine (1961 Lincoln Continental 4-door convertible-SS 100X) JFK was riding in on the day of his assassination (license plate number: GG300, D.C.) is on display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.

•  There were 6 passengers in the limousine: The driver was Secret Service agent Bill Greer, age 44. Seated next to him was Roy Kellerman, 48, special agent in charge of the White House Detail; behind him was Texas Gov. John Connally and his wife Nellie; and in the back was President Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy. None of these passengers are living today.

• The shooting of JFK took approximately 4.6 seconds.

•  It took approximately 6 minutes to transport the president to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he was assigned to Trauma Room No. 1. The first to examine him was Charles J. Carrico, a second year surgical student, According to the Warren Commission Report, Dr. Fouad Bashour, chief of cardiology, Dr. M.T. Jenkins, chief of anesthesiology, and Dr. A.H. Giesecke, Jr., all joined in the effort to revive the president. Kennedy was pronounced dead by Dr. William Clark at approximately 1:00 p.m. CST.

•  The first news of the president being shot came at 12:36 p.m. (CST), 1: 36 p.m. (EST), when Don Gardiner of the ABC Radio network interrupted Doris Day's recording of "Hooray for Hollywood’’ to make the stunning announcement. The CBS television network followed at 12:40, when Walter Cronkite broke into the soap opera: ``As the World Turns''; NBC didn’t go live until 12: 45, when they broke away from a fashion show.

•  The last rites to Kennedy were administered by Father Oscar Huber of Holy Trinity Church in Dallas, who recited the words: ``Si capax ego te absolvo a peccatis tuis, in nomine Patris, et Filii et Spiritus Sancti, Amen'' (``If it is possible, I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father and the son, and the Holy Ghost, Amen''). Fr Huber then dipped his thumb in holy oil, traced the sign of the cross on Kennedy's forehead and said; ``Through this holy anointing may God forgive you whatever sins you have committed. Amen.'' The First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy, softly voiced the following words:  ``And let perpetual light shine upon him''.  According to Fr. Huber, after the final blessing, the First Lady bent over and kissed the president.

        A Footnote: Father Huber died on January 21, 1975

• There were 2 Pulitzer Prizes awarded for the Kennedy Assassination. The recipients were: Merriman Smith of UPI, who was riding in the White House press pool car; and Robert H. Jackson of the Dallas Times-Herald for his historic photograph, capturing Jack Ruby plugging bullets into the chest of Lee Harvey Oswald.

•  According to Bowker's Books in Print Database, as of November, 2013, there have been 1,500 books published about John F. Kennedy, ranking him as the third most popular book subject among U.S. presidents, behind Abraham Lincoln (3,584) and George Washington (1,909). Specifically on the JFK assassination, Bowker lists 636 books in their database (all markets, print or ebook), which includes both adult and children’s titles and backlist as well as forthcoming titles.

•  On November 22, 1963, out of 552 employees in November 1963, there were 70 special agents and 8 clerks--or 14 percent of the total Secret Service work force--assigned to protect the President and vice President with 320 agents worldwide. Today, there are well over 3000 Secret Service agents worldwide.

•  President Kennedy had two caskets. The first, used in transit from Parkland Memorial Hospital to Bethesda Naval Hospital was an 800 pound Britannia model. Since this casket was damaged when it was removed from Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base on November 22, 1963, a second or burial casket was selected at Gawlor's Funeral Parlor in Washington, D.C.: Marcellus No. 710 of hand rubbed, 500 year old African mahogany upholstered in white rayon.

•  Jack Ruby, Lee Harvey Oswald’s assailant, died on January 3, 1967, in a Dallas hospital from lung cancer. He was 55.

•  The notorious Texas School Book Depository Company (now the Dallas County Administration Building) located on northwest corner of Elm and North Houston Streets, at the western end of downtown Dallas (411 Elm Street) moved out of the building in 1970 and relocated to North Dallas. Opened to the public in 1989, The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza (located on the 6^th floor of the Dallas County Administration Building) is today a thriving repository of approximately 45,,000 items, including photographs, film and video footage, documents and artifacts, related to the assassination and legacy of President John F. Kennedy.

 ****

Select minute-by-minute timeline of the assassination (Eastern Standard Time) as recorded in William Manchester's Book: ``The Death of a President''

• 1: 30 p.m.: Lee Harvey Oswald shoots JFK from the 6th floor of the Book Depository
• 1: 34 p.m. : First UPI flash
• 1: 38 p.m.: Parkland Memorial Hospital admits case ``24740'' described as a white male suffering from ``gunshot wound''.
• 1: 57 p.m. : Father Huber arrives at hospital
• 2:00 p.m. : JFK is pronounced dead
  • According to poll conducted by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC), 75 million Americans knew of the assassination at this time.
  • Robert McNamara summons the Joint Chiefs
  • Washington phone system breaks down.
  • 2: 05 p.m.: Robert Kennedy learns his brother is dead.
  • 2: 32 p.m.: UPI quotes Father Huber: ``He's dead...''
  • 2: 33 p.m.: LBJ boards- Air Force One.
  • 2: 40 p.m.: Oswald enters a Texas movie theater: ``War is Hell'' is showing.
  • 2: 50 p.m.: Oswald is arrested.
  • 3:06 p.m.: LBJ phones lawyers in an attempt to locate the oath of office.
  • 3: 14 p.m.: The Associated Press erroneously reports a Secret Service Agent was killed.
  • 3: 38: LBJ is sworn in as the 36th President of the United States.
  • 4: 15 p.m.: Networks report Oswald has been arrested.
  • 8:00 p.m.: Autopsy on JFK commences.
  • 8: 50 p.m.: Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of John and Jacqueline, is informed of her father's death by Miss Shaw.

**

News Magazine Cover stories that never went to press due to the Kennedy Assassination

 • Life magazine originally planned a cover splash on Navy quarterback Roger Staubach, including 22 pages of text and pictures.

 • Time magazine discarded their cover feature on jazz musician Thelonious Monk

***

 John F. Kennedy Demographics

• Born: May 29, 1917 at home in the master bedroom on the second floor of 83 Beals Street, Brookline, Massachusetts.
• Social Security Number: 026-22-3747
• Confirmation Name: Francis
• Hair Color: Reddish brown
• Eye Color: greenish gray
• Blood Type: O RH positive
• Height: 6' 1"
• Shoe Size: 10C
• Weight: 172 1/2 pounds
• Waist: 32 inches
• Personal Car: 1959 Pontiac Convertible Coupe. Vehicle Identification/Engine #859F-1111.
• License#: 53332D
• License Plate: As Senator: MA-1995
• Favorite Poems: "Ulysses" by Tennyson; "I Have a Rendezvous with Death," by Alan Seeger
• Favorite Proverb: "Know Thyself" by Socrates and the Oracle of Delphi.
• Favorite Songs: ``The Wearin' o' the Green’’, ``Londonderry Air’’, `` Danny Boy’’, ``When Irish Eyes are Smiling.’’
• Smoking Habits: Kennedy smoked 4-5 cigars a day. His preference was for Upmanns or Monticellos.
• JFK's Favorite Newspapers: Those read daily, included the Baltimore Sun, Chicago Tribune, The Christian Science Monitor, New York Herald Tribune, New York News, New York Times, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and the Washington Star.

Source: JOHN F. KENNEDY PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

 ****

1963: Demographics

• Federal budget reaches nearly $100 billion

• National Debt: $315 billion

• Employed: 69.8 million as of October 31, 1963

• Unemployment Rate: 5.5 percent or 3.4 million as of October 31, 1963

• Per capita annual income: $2,500

• Gross National Product: $600 billion

• Defense Spending: $52 billion

• Two-thirds of the world’s automobiles are in the United States

• First class postage stamps increased to five cents an ounce.

• Cost of a Drive-in movie? $1.50 per car

• A pound of Maxwell House coffee cost 38 cents.

• A four bedroom house in North San Bernardino, Ca. was selling for $17,100

• A subway token was 15 cents.

• A Royalite typewriter, including a carrying case, standard keyboard pica or elite was selling for $49.95.

 

-Bill Lucey

[email protected]

November 14, 2013

 

One Sorry Week!

  







What a week its been for apologies; have you been keeping track?

Top 10 Apologies of the Week


1.    Toronto mayor, Rob Ford, apologizes for being hammered in public and smoking crack cocaine while in a drunken stupor.
 
2.   Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), apologized for plagiarizing or failing to properly attribute material he borrowed from Wikipedia, the Heritage Foundation, the libertarian Cato Institute and other sources in his speeches and his recently released book.
 
3.    President Obama apologizes for cancelled health plans.
 
4.    Lara Logan, CBS correspondent, apologizes for contradictory reports from one of her sources regarding the Benghazi attack.
 
5.    Sharon Osbourne apologized for telling the hosts of the View (save Barbara Walters) to `` go f--k themselves."
 
6.    Online auction site eBay has apologized for selling Holocaust memorabilia, including the clothes of concentration camp victims.

 7.    Home Depot Inc. on Thursday apologized for a tweet that showed a picture of two African-American drummers with a person in a gorilla mask in between them and asked: "Which drummer is not like the others?"

 8.)  New York Knicks point guard Raymond Felton apologized to fans for their slow start (1-3) and asked for their patience.
 
9.)  Eric Erickson of the The North Carolina Department of Transportation apologized after sending out a series of bizarre traffic alert messages, warning drivers to “Stay home because of women drivers, rain, and Obamacare.”

10.)  Late night TV host Jimmy Kimmel apologized to his television audience for suggesting that "killing everyone in China" could be a solution to America's debt problem.
 

-Bill Lucey
[email protected] 
November 8, 2013

Tim McCarver Preparing For One Last Hurrah!

 

Photo Credit:  Paige Calamari/Getty Images

***

In the midst of calling his 24^th World Series as a baseball analyst and having served as a baseball commentator at a number of networks for 33 years, Tim McCarver, who just turned 72 this month, will call it quits at the conclusion of the 109^th Fall Classic between the St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox.

McCarver was a member of the Cardinals during the 1967 World Series, when they beat the Red Sox in the decisive 7^th game at Fenway Park, so it seems only fitting that this will be his last.

Though he may be shutting down his analysis for Fox Sports, the former Cardinal and Phillies catcher isn’t calling it a retirement. He hates the word. Rather, as he told Charlie Rose earlier in the year, ``it`s time to cut back and do some of the things that I`ve always thought about doing.’’ He also told reporters during a conference call in March, 2013, “I wanted to step down while I know I can still do the job and be proud of the job I’ve done.”

Whatever opinion there may be about McCarver’s distinctive broadcasting style, and there are many-to be sure-his sharp wit, folksy humor, and uncanny knowledge of the intricacies and nuances of the game will be missed and not easily replaced.

Two examples come immediately to mind. One time during a World Series game, Mariano Rivera fielded a sacrifice bunt and rifled the ball to 2^nd base, throwing too high for Derek Jeter to handle. McCarver, who knows pitchers better than anyone, immediately weighed in, saying: ``pitchers have a hard time throwing to bases because they can’t throw anything straight.’’ And just last season during a Fox broadcast, a Red Sox runner on 1<sup>st</sup> was doubled up, after a sharply hit ball to the shortstop. Again, McCarver presented viewers with another indispensible rule of thumb: A runner should never allow himself to be doubled-up on a ball hit to the left side of the infield. ``Why?’’, McCarver said as if he were at the blackboard in a college classroom drilling his students, ``because even if the ball gets through, the runner on 1st won’t make it any further than 2^nd base.’’

Even the most casual observer of McCarver over the last two decades knows that this Emmy-Award winning color commentator is blessed with a mystifying ability to size up a situation during the course of the game, and almost like a fortune-teller peering into his crystal ball, predict its outcome, particularly if he detects pitfalls in the strategy.

In Game 5 of the 1990 NLCS, with the Cincinnati Reds trailing the Pittsburgh Pirates by a run, for example, Reds manager Lou Piniella employed a double-switch  in the bottom of the 8^th inning (sending in reliever Scott Scudder and back-up catcher Jeff Reed), but the Reds’ manager failed to put the weak-hitting Reed in the pitcher’s spot. Calling the game with Jack Buck on CBS, McCarver immediately pointed out a major oversight.  By not ``flip-flopping the lineup’’ (putting the pitcher in the 7^th spot and his reserve catcher in the 9^th spot), McCarver emphasized, Piniella risked having one of his worst offensive players at the plate with the game on the line in the ninth.

And just like he predicted, the Reds 9^th rally crumbled when Reed (a left-handed batter forced to face a left-handed pitcher) was induced into a 9^th inning game ending double-play.

But McCarver was at his prognosticating best in the 7^th game of the 2001 World Series between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the New York Yankees.  With the score tied at 2 in the bottom of the 9^th, with only one out and the bases loaded, Luis Gonzalez of the D-Backs stepped to the plate.  With the winning run just 90 feet away, Yankee manager Joe Torre instructed the infield to come in. After Gonzalez fouled off Rivera’s first offering, McCarver voiced the following observation: `` The one problem,’’ McCarver told viewers, ``is Rivera throws inside to left-handers. Left-handers get a lot of broken bat hits into the shallow part of the outfield. That’s the danger of bringing the infield in with a guy like Rivera on the mound.’’

No sooner had those sage words of concern rolled off his tongue, than Gonzalez rapped a floater just over Jeter’s outstretched arm, landing softly on the edge of the outfield grass, just like McCarver cautioned. Game over! The Diamondbacks stunned the Yankees against the usually reliable, lights out Mariano Rivera.  It’s a tossup what was more memorable, Gonzalez’s Series winning bloop single or McCarver’s remarkable prescience.

Of course, even with all his amazing insight, McCarver has committed a few unforced errors during his distinguished broadcasting career, as a few of his detractors are all too eager to point out.  During the 2011 World Series, he said ``s-t-r-i-k-e is a five letter word.’’  In the in Game 5 of the ALCS between the Red Sox and Yankees after David Ortiz smashed a home run to right field, McCarver observed: ``Mount Everest erupts again.!’’ And occasionally McCarver states the obvious, like when he told his audience in 1993 that Darren Daulton of the Phillies uses his ``glove like a mitt.’’; or  the``one thing about ground balls, they don’t go out of the park.’’  Another McCarver pitch he probably wished he never delivered: ``Yankee pitchers have great success against [Miguel] Cabrera when they get him out.’’

And just like the best of them, McCarver has mangled a few names over the years as well. During the 1992 NLCS between the Pirates and Braves, he kept referring to Pirate rookie pitcher, Tim Wakefield, as ``Bill Wakefield.’’  An understandable miscue since McCarver was roommates with a Bill Wakefield during spring training in 1960. During the 2009 World Series, he referred to Derek Jeter as "Jerek Deter"; and once confused Albert Pujols with the retired Luis Pujols.

Clearly, the most stinging indictment against McCarver over the years is that he has a tendency to engage in philosophical rambling and has been much too critical, unnerving a number of players and managers.

Bob Ryan, retired Boston Globe columnist and still a Globe contributor, said of McCarver, ``All color men overdo it on occasion, but the criticisms of Tim McCarver are ludicrous. If he occasionally uses a word or historic reference some people don't understand, that would be their problem, not his. He will be missed.''

While covering the Mets during the 1980’s, McCarver criticized Darryl Strawberry for staying in the same place in the outfield, no matter who the hitter is, suggesting he would be able to handle more fly balls if he would only make some adjustments. Such a critique, seemingly benign, sparked the ire of Mets skipper Davey Johnson.  Never afraid to speak his mind, ended up costing McCarver his job with the Mets who fired him two months before the 1999 season. Rumors were rampant that his axing came at the urging of manager Bobby Valentine.

His confrontation with two-sport athlete Deion Sanders is infamous. During the 1992 NLCS, he called ``Prime Time’’ out for planning to play in the NFL and the NLCS on the same day.  ``How can he leave in the playoffs and go play in a football game?" McCarver intoned. "The way I look at it, that's just flat wrong and I guess could be construed as a breach of contract." McCarver’s biting comments resulted in him getting drenched with a bucket of ice water, three times in fact, by Deion in front of a national television audience when the Braves clinched the pennant.  Furious, McCarver shouted back: "You are a real man, Deion. I'll say that."

In 2008, just prior to the NLCS, McCarver called Manny Ramirez "despicable" criticizing him for his slothful, slipshod effort in Boston and how he suddenly, miraculously, turned it around in Los Angeles with the Dodgers.

But for all the criticisms heaped on McCarver over the years, his deep passion for the game and his predilection of never being afraid to tell the truth, when ``tough love’’ is needed, has earned him legions of fans and admirers along with mountains of respect among his contemporaries.

Dan Caesar, who covers sports media for the St Louis Post-Dispatch  says: ``McCarver is an icon, and the fact he sometimes has been a lightening rod on and off the air only enhances his aura''...``McCarver knew who he was working for — the person on the other end of the broadcast, not on the diamond or in the dugout. That is a key element that often gets lost on many former players who trek to the booth.''

George Vecsey (who now has a personal website at www.georgevecsey.com ) still a contributing sports columnist at The New York Times, even after his retirement, echoed similar thoughts. ``McCarver is professional and fearless. He never hesitated to criticize strategy, not in a personal way, but because he saw himself as a broadcaster, not a house man. He was a jock, but not enough to hinder him from making judgments on the spot’’ ``He can be overbearing with his puns and use of two-dollar words’’, Vecsey continues, ``but McCarver always loves and respects the game, and his craft.''

One of the most endearing attributes of McCarver is the way he remains firm in his ``old school’’ beliefs, even at the risk of seeming out of touch with American popular culture. Never is that more true than when it comes to social media, during an age when everyone these days seems to be twittering and plastering their smart phone pictures on Facebook.  ``There is nothing in my view more disturbing than social networking – nothing!’’ McCarver said just last year.

Of course, someone as cultured and tethered to refined literary expression as McCarver is, probably isn’t too concerned with being out of step with pop culture. From time to time, he likes to sprinkle his commentary with dashes of Shakespeare, like he did in 1997 when the Chicago Cubs were mired in a losing streak and he cited a line from  ``Love's Labour Lost.’’  ``Mirth cannot move a soul in agony'' McCarver expressed softly with his signature southern drawl.

When showering McCarver with accolades over his celebrated broadcasting career, there is a tendency to overlook the significant contributions he made on the field, other than he was a catcher to and a teammate of Hall of Famer Bob Gibson while with the Cardinals.

Beginning in 1959 at age 17, McCarver spent 10 seasons in St. Louis before joining the Phillies in 1970, where he remained until he was dealt to the Montreal Expos for catcher John Bateman on June 14, 1972. He finished the 1972 season in Montreal before being traded back to St. Louis during the offseason. 74 games into the 1974 season, the Boston Red Sox purchased his contract, but he was subsequently released on June 23, 1975. A little over a week later, he signed, once again, with the Phillies, playing in the outfield and at 1st. After only two games in 1980, he officially retired.

During his 21-year playing career, only one of 29 players to have appeared in four decades, McCarver distinguished himself as a two-time All-Star (1966 and 1967), played in three World Series (1964, 1967, 1968) caught two no-hitters (1971 and 1972) and smacked a dramatic three-run, 10th inning home run off New York's Pete Mikkelsen at Yankee Stadium in Game 5 of the 1964 World Series. McCarver was voted the Series MVP that year, batting .478 and leading his team to a spectacular seven game win over the New York Yankees. In the 1968 World Series in which St. Louis was pitted against the Detroit Tigers, (a Series the Cardinals lost in seven games) McCarver hit an impressive .333, with a home run and four RBIs.

McCarver would probably prefer not to be reminded about his Fourth of July blunder (July 4, 1976), when he belted a grand slam on the nation’s Bicentennial of all days at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh; only he got so excited he passed Phillies teammate Garry Maddox on the base paths, nullifying the slam. He was instead credited with a three-run single.

After his retirement in 1980, it didn’t take long for McCarver to jump into the broadcasting booth.  The Phillies hired him at WPHL-TV (Channel 17) from 1980 to 1982, to work alongside Harry Kalas, Rich Ashburn, Andy Musser and Chris Wheeler.  In 1980, he also worked as a backup ``Game of the Week’’ commentator for NBC.

In 1984, he was hired as a roving reporter for ABC Sports, talking with fans in the stands. When Howard Cosell got fired the following year (after his controversial autobiography was released) just days before the World Series, ABC paired McCarver with Al Michaels. He stayed with ABC through 1989. Beginning in 1990, he landed at CBS, working with Jack Buck in 1990 and 1991 and Sean McDonough in 1992 and 1993. In 1996, he was hired by Fox Sports, where he was paired with play-by-play announcer, Joe Buck.

Along the way, he had broadcasting stints with the New York Mets (1983-1998), their cross-town rivals New York Yankees (1999-2001), and the San Francisco Giants (2002). Taken together, spanning three decades, McCarver has worked at all four major networks: NBC, CBS, ABC and, currently, Fox.

Although ending his playing career with 1,501 hits, a .271 lifetime batting average, 97 dingers and 645 runs batted in, wasn't quite stellar enough to get him to Cooperstown as a player, he was the recipient of the 2012 Ford C. Frick award for broadcasting excellence and enshrined in the broadcasters' and sports writers' wing of the Hall of Fame, alongside his former colleague and friend, legendary Jack Buck, the father of his current Fox colleague, Joe Buck.

So for James Timothy "Tim" McCarver, the son of a police officer (fourth of five children), married to former Anne McDaniel since 1964 with two grown daughters, Kathy and Kelly, it has indeed been a road well traveled from his humble beginnings, coming as he did, from a working class Irish neighborhood in Memphis, Tennessee to major league baseball star to national treasure and Hall of Fame recipient for his broadcasting excellence.

When it comes to encapsulating McCarver's illustrious broadcasting career and how much he'll be missed, no one sums it up better than George Vecsey of The New York Times, when he tells me: `` I will miss Tim on the broadcasts -- partially because we came along together, so to speak. But more to the point, he is sui generis, a former player who transcended that label.'' ``Essentially'', Vecsey underscores, ``he is a true believer, a smart, warm, honest guy. I hope he stays in the public ear.''

 

-Bill Lucey

[email protected]

October 30, 2013

 

 

Cardinals vs. Red Sox Epic 7-Game Clashes: 1946 and 1967

The Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Cardinals will meet in the Fall Classic for the fourth time on Wednesday evening. They first met in 1946, then again in 1967, both times the Cardinals won the decisive 7^th game to win the World Series. Not until 2004, when both teams met for a third time, did the Red Sox beat the Redbirds in a four game sweep to claim their six World Series title.

In 2004, the phenomenal pitching of Curt Schilling and Pedro Martinez silenced the Cardinals most potent hitter, Albert Pujols, who went without a home run or even an RBI over four games.  And with the gargantuan thunder of Manny Ramirez (the Series MVP) and David Ortiz (``Big Papi’’) the Cardinals found themselves outmuscled in practically every phase of the game. Terry Francona, moreover, became the third manager in four years to win a World Series in his first year as manager.

Most noteworthy about the Red Sox 2004 world championship was their success in finally, at long last, exorcising  the ``Curse of the Bambino’’, the mother of all curses, which was supposed to have been inflicted on the team when Babe Ruth was sold to the Yankees in 1919. The Bambino was a pitcher for the Red Sox in 1918, the last time they won a World Series prior to 2004.

The Sox struck gold again in 2007, again in a four game sweep, this time over the Colorado Rockies.

So while memories of the Sox latest clash with the Cardinals are still fresh in most people’s minds, memories are a little foggy of the epic battles between the Cardinals and Red Sox in 1946 and 1967.

So to refresh your memories, I put together individual game summaries of all seven games between the Cards and Sox from the 1946 and 1967 World Series’. My summaries are based on game stories and columns from the Boston Globe and The New York Times in those years. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to gain access to the St. Louis Dispatch archives.

 

Starting lineups for the St Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox on Game One of the 1946 World Series

Lineup for the Cardinals

Red Schoendienst-2b

Terry Moore, cf

Stan Musial, 1b

Enos Slaughter, rf

Whitey Kurowski, 3b

Joe Garagiola, c

Harry Walker, lf

Marty Marion, ss

 

Lineup for Red Sox

Tom McBride, rf

Johnny Pesky, ss

Dom Dimaggio, cf

Ted Williams, lf

Rudy York, 1b

Bobby Doerr, 2b

Pinky Higgins, 3b

Hal Wagner, c

 

Game One

October 6, 1946

Sportsman’s Park

Boston-3

St. Louis-2

Weatherman predicted it would rain all day, but it turned out to be a warm sunny day at Sportsman Park in St. Louis with 36,218 euphoric fans in attendance.

It took 28 years, but the Red Sox finally made to another World Series. In Game 1, Boston was held to four scattered hits in the first eight innings. In the 9th, they strung together three hits, including Tommy McBride's hit that tied the game. In the 10th, Rudy York deposited one in the last row of the bleachers to put the Sox up, 3-2.

In the bottom of the 10th, Earl Johnson, the 27-year-old war veteran, twice-decorated on the battlefield of Europe and cited for his valor in World War II, took to the mound to preserve the Red Sox lead.  Boston skipper Joe Cronin reportedly strolled to the mound to speak with his relief pitcher. He asked him, ``What was that battle you were in on the other side?”  ``The Battle of the Bulge’’ answered Johnson.  ``This isn’t that tough’’ Cronin assured his reliever as walked back to the dugout.

Thanks to a defensive blunder by shortstop Johnny Pesky on Red Schoendienst’s grounder; and a sacrifice by Moore, the Cards had a runner on second with only one out. But Johnson induced Stan Musial into a grounder to his second baseman, Bobby Doerr; and then Enos Slaughter lifted a fly ball to right center before Wally Moses pulled it down for the final out.

It was the first extra-inning World Series since 1924.

In the second inning, the Cardinals put in motion the celebrated ``Williams Shift’’, with third baseman Whitey Kurowski moving to normal second base position and second baseman Red Schoendienst shifting toward first. It worked like a charm. Ted Williams grounded to Red Schoendienst.

 

Game Two

October 7, 1946

Sportsman’s Park

St. Louis-3

Boston-0

The weather in Game 2 was an unseasonably warm 80 degrees with 35, 815 fans in attendance at St. Louis

The Cardinals took Game 2, 3-0, getting the best of Boston’s southpaw, Mickey Harris, to even the Series at a game apiece.

Ted Williams, ``Thumping Theodore’’ as the paper’s described him, went hitless in four trips to the plate. Boston manager Joe Cronin lost the services of his catcher Roy Partee with a bruised thumb.

Southpaw Harry Brecheen, from Broken Bow, Okla., a 15-game winner during the regular season was the hero of the day.  In Game 2, he tossed a four hit shutout, throwing the Sox a steady diet of screwballs they couldn’t handle.

According to newspaper reports, the game was finished inside of two hours.

Former Cardinals slugger Rogers Hornsby doing some analysis of the Series, reportedly said of Ted Williams: ``Williams is gonna be a great hitter, but he'll never be great until he learns to hit to every field.''

In the 3^rd, Brecheen slapped a single to right, scoring Rice to the put the Cards up 1-0. St Louis added two more runs in the 5th, when Terry Moore shot a ball in the hole that deflected off the second baseman's glove and rolled into right-center field. The second run of the inning was added with runners on corners and the Boston infield unable to turn a double play, allowing Brecheen to cross the plate from third.

 

Game Three

October 9, 1946

Fenway Park

Boston-4

St. Louis-0

Rudy York of the Red Sox smashed a three run home run in the 1^st off Murry Dickson, his second game winning dinger of the Series.  York, the 33-year old veteran was traded by the Tigers last winter on the assumption his playing days were all but over. The Sox added another run in the 8^th.  David Ferriss was superb on the mound in keeping the Cards off the scoreboard and limiting them to six hits with one walk as the Sox cruised to a 4-0 win to take a 2-1 lead in the Series. Ferriss’ gem was the 50^th shutout in World Series history. The last Boston pitcher to toss a shutout during a World Series was Babe Ruth, who blanked the Cubs in 1918. Boston was 61-16 at Fenway during the 46’ season. 34,500 fans were in attendance. In the third inning, Ted Williams unexpectedly laid down a bunt toward the vacant third base line once he saw, once again, the seismic shift to the right side of the infield.  Williams smiled as he easily made it to 1^st, knowing he had caught the Cardinals infield flat-footed.  Despite an unproductive day for ``The Kid’’, radio reporters still mobbed the slugger in the clubhouse after the game. Williams would only say, ``it’s not my day, it’s Ferriss’ and York’s; give them all the praise.’’

Newspapers reported that Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey's sister, Emma Ouerbacker, had a $2,500 diamond and emerald platinum ring, a $150 pair of diamond and gold earrings and $40 in cash stolen from her hotel room. Bleacher seats, which numbered about 8,500, didn’t go on sale until 9:00 a.m. that morning and sold out in about two hours. In attendance were Massachusetts Governor Maurice J. Tobin and Boston Mayor James M. Curley

 

Game Four

October 10, 1946

Fenway Park

St Louis-12

Boston-3

35,645 in attendance. After three remarkable pitching performances by both teams, Game 4 turned into a dud. Cardinals turned out 20 hits, squaring the Series at two games apiece. The Boston Globe wrote the Sox played ``like married men at a church picnic.’’ Three Cardinals had four hits a piece: Slaughter, third baseman Whitey Kurowski, right-fielder Wally Moses, and Joe Garagiola, the 20-year-old rookie catcher. Garagiola knocked in three runs, as did Cardinal shortstop Marty Marion. Every Cardinal had at least one hit, matching a feat accomplished by the Cardinals in the 1934 World Series, the Reds in 1919 against the White Sox and the Yankees in 1936. George Munger, the big read-head, who just a few months ago was serving with occupation forces in Germany was  on the hill for the Cards, limiting the Sox to 9 hits. In attendance were Leo Durocher, Joe DiMaggio, George Raft, Toots Shor, and Joe Louis. Enos Slaughter crushed a 400 foot home run in the second inning. Five Red Sox pitchers were summoned from the bullpen before the game was over.

The Boston Globe noted that Ted Williams failed to doff his cap to the fans at Fenway for the first time since 1941. The newspaper reported Williams agreed to tip his cap after having a private conversation with Bobo Newsom, the Washington Senators right-handed pitcher, an admirer of ``The Kid’’ as well as his favorite critic. Asked by the drubbing his team took, Ted Williams said, ``I’d rather lose that way than by 3-2 in 15 innings.

 

 

Game Five

October 11, 1946

Fenway Park

Boston-6

St. Louis-3

Behind the pitching of Joe Dobson (former relief pitcher for the Cleveland Indians), the 195 pounder from Durant, Okla., tossed a four-hitter as the Red Sox rebounded from a 12-3 drubbing in Game 4, beating the Cardinals 6-3 in front of 35, 982 fans without a cloud in the beautiful blue sky to take a 3-2 Series lead and needing just one more win for a World Series championship. If not for two errors by Sox shortstop Johnny Pesky (2^nd and 9^th inning) Dobson was in line for a shutout. Pesky did contribute three hits. The Boston Globe noted only three teams in World Series history, staked to a 3-2 lead, failed to win the final two games of the Fall Classic on the road: The Detroit Tigers in Cincinnati in 1940, the Washington Senators in Pittsburgh in 1925, and the New York Giants in Washington in 1924. The Globe additionally noted World Series winners will receive less money this year than in any series since 1918.  The Sox pounded Cardinals southpaw ace, Howie Pollet. A pair of doubles by Dom DiMaggio and Pinky Higgins inflicted the final blows to the Redbirds, as the Sox put three more on the board. Pollet, who had been so spectacular in his previous start, was knocked out in the 1^st after facing only four batters.  In the opening frame, Ted Williams aka ``Thumping Ted’’ stepped to the plate and drilled a liner to right, scoring Pesky, moving Dom DiMaggio to third and sending Pollet in for an early shower. Williams single was his fourth hit of the series and only his first RBI. The Cardinals had a scoring chance in the 4^th when Enos Slaughter stole second. Dobson, however, struck out Kurowski and Garagiola to end the threat. Al Brazle replaced Pollet. Leon Culberson smashed a curve ball against the left field screen, just over the scoreboard in the 6^th inning to put the Sox up, 3-1.

Arthur Daley of the New York Times notes Dobson’s four-hitter made him the hottest thing in town since the big Boston fire of 1872. Spotted in the stands in Game 5 were Lefty Grove, Carl Hubbell, Dizzy Dean, Mickey Cochrane, Jimmy Foxx, Bill Terry, Hank Greenberg, Rogers Hornsby, Frank Frisch, Al Simmons, Tris Speaker, and Harry Heilmann. Ted Williams moaned to reporters before the game, ``I got to get me some hits. This can’t go on forever.’’  The loss to the Red Sox must have seemed particularly painful for Cardinals manager Eddie Dyer who celebrated his 46^th birthday. After the game, the Cardinals announced they were officially shutting down their southpaw ace, Howard Pollet, due to a strained shoulder and side muscles that’s continuing to bother him.

 

Game Six

October 13, 1946

Sportsman’s Park

St Louis-4

Boston-1

35, 768 fans were in attendance. The Cardinals’ wiry left-hander Harry Brecheen from Broken Bow, Okla., frustrated Red Sox hitters all afternoon in a 4-1 win over the Boston to send the Series to a decisive Game 7 Tuesday at Sportsman Park in St. Louis. Boston was held to seven hits. Rudy York’s triple in the 7^th (and Doerr’s sac fly) accounted for the only Boston run. The Red Sox were highly favored to beat the Cardinals. Brecheen dazzled the home crowd in shutting out the Red Sox in Game 2 at Sportsman’s Park.

Boston Globe Headline: ``Williams an Enormous Flop in First Six Games-‘’ Harold Kaese of the Globe, writes: ``As matters stands, Williams is an enormous bust. In six games, he has made five singles and has batted in one run.’’ Kaese additionally questioned Boston manager Joe Cronin’s decision to have started Tex Hughson (20-11) in Game 1 instead of David Ferriss who posted a mighty impressive 25-6 record during the season. Kaese wrote, ``The Red Sox are in the curious position of having played six World Series games and having used their 25-game winner in only one contest-a shutout.’’

Grover Cleveland Alexander posed for photographers before the game. In his traditional post-game essay during the World Series for the Boston Globe, Ted Williams wrote: ``The Cat [aka Harry, the Cat, Brecheen] not only skinned us again, but this time he feasted on our flesh and scratched on our bones. Brecheen not only stuck the bats down our throats, but he broke them off inside us.’’

Arthur Daley in The New York Times notes, Ted Williams can't wait for this series to conclude so he can go hunting and fishing in South Dakota, ``far from the maddening crowd. `` Thus far in the series’’, Daley observes, ``the only fishing he's done has been fishing after third strikes and his hunting has consisted principally of hunting for base hits. Neither appeals to Temperamental Ted.’’ In Game 6, Williams slapped a single through the hole, his only hit of the game, bringing his Series batting average to a pedestrian .238.

Cardinal manager Eddie Dyer is one game away from winning the World Series in his freshman year as manager in the big leagues. A sac fly by Moore and some clutch hitting by Eddie Kurowski and Enos Slaughter enabled the Cards to put three runs on the board in the 3^rd inning. Walker doubled in the 8^th for the Cards fourth and final run of the game.

 

Game Seven

October 15, 1946

Sportsman’s Park

St. Lous-4

Boston-3

The Cardinals win their sixth world championship in nine trips to the World Series; only the New York Yankees with 10 had won more.

With the score tied at 3 in the bottom of the 8^th, Enos (Country) Slaughter of the Cardinals, slapped a single to center field. Cronin then brought in reliever Bob Klinger from the bullpen who retired the first two batters he faced. Harry Walker then stepped to the plate and laced a line drive double to left center, allowing Slaughter to peel around the bases and head for home. Johnny Pesky, after receiving the relay throw from the outfield, hesitated on his throw to the plate, which allowed Slaughter to slide home safely in a cloud of dust, to put the Cardinals up 4-3, a lead that was secured by a relief appearance by Harry Becheen in the top of the 9^th. After their win, the Cardinals lifted rookie manager Eddie Dyer on top of the shoulders and the celebration was in full bloom.

36, 143 fans were on hand. Johnny Pesky stood in the clubhouse after the crushing defeat to tell reporters, ``I’m the goat. It’s my fault. I’m to blame.’’ Pesky said, he never expected Slaughter would dash for home. ``I couldn’t hear anybody hollering at me above the noise of the crowd’’ the woeful Boston shortstop said. ``I gave Slaughter at least six strides with that delay.’’

But to hear the Cardinals tell it as echoed through Martin Marion: ``We won the World Series by stopping Williams.’’ During the series, Ted Williams managed only five singles, driving in one run, ending with a .200 batting average. It was Boston’s first World Series loss in 43 years. Harry Becheen came in for relief in Game 7 to secure his third win of the Series, becoming the first pitcher to win three World Series games since Stanley Covleski of the Cleveland Indians in 1920.

The Cards entered the World Series as a 7-20 long shot to beat the highly favored Boston Red Sox. Dom DiMaggio, the`` Little Professor’’ drove in all three of Boston’s runs.

It was announced that the winning share of each member of the St Louis Cardinals would amount to $3,757.04, while each Red Sox player would receive $2,052.03. The Cards ended up outscoring the Sox 28-20, outhitting them, 60-56, while committing only four errors to the Red Sox 10 miscues. The Boston Globe reported that Williams, looking almost on the verge of tears, sat in front of his locker staring mournfully at the floor for at least 30 minutes. Commissioner Happy Chandler stepped into the Sox clubhouse and patted Williams on the back, saying ``God love you Ted. ‘’ Williams replied: ``I never missed so many balls in all my life.’’

Stan Musial told reporters , ``Experience may have had a lot to do with it…These Red Sox are good...But we’ve been in this before…I want to say this for Boston, though- it was a great Series and they played wonderful ball, clean,  not any bickering, no dusters.’’

In the Cardinal clubhouse before the decisive Game 7, manager Eddie Dyer was chuckling over a letter he received from a woman from New York,  who charged the Redbirds were ``gangsters for having stopped Williams.’’

Before Game 7, Boston manager Joe Cronin presented Williams with a parting gift for the offseason, a book titled:  ``To Hell with Fishing.’’

 

 

1967 Starting Game One Lineups for the St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox.

St Louis Starting Lineup

Lou Brock, LF

Curt Flood, CF

Roger Maris, RF

Orlando Cepeda, 1B

Tim McCarver, C

Mike Shannon, 3B

Julian Javier, 2B

Dal Maxvill, SS

 

Boston Starting Lineup

Jerry Adair, 2B

Dalton Jones, 3B

Carl Yastrzemski, LF

Ken Harrelson, RF

George Scott, 1B

Rico Petrocelli, SS

Reggie Smith, CF

Russ Gibson, C

 

1967 World Series

October 4, 1967

Game One

Fenway Park

St. Louis-2

Boston-1

``WE'LL WIN: ``I still say the Red Sox will win the World Series...we've been coming from behind most of the last few weeks and you'll see us come back again.''

-Carl Yastrzemski.

34,796 fans in attendance.  Cardinal’s ace Bob Gibson struck out five of the first eight batters he faced, finishing with 10 strikeouts, surrendering six hits before the afternoon was over. The Sox never were able to manage more than one hit in an inning off Gibson; his only walk came in the 9^th on a 3-2 pitch to George Scott. His only mistake pitch came in the third frame when he floated a slow hanging curve ball to pitcher Jose Santiago who proceeded to smack his second home run of the year. It marked the seventh home run hit by a pitcher in World Series history. Gibson threw 11 pitches to Rico Petrocelli, striking him out three times without Rico ever managing to put the bat on any of Gibby’s missles. Petrocelli was lifted for a pinch hitter in the 9^th. After Santiago’s blast, only two Red Sox runners reached second base. Gibson complained of a sore ankle after the game, but said he should be fine.  Gibson missed eight weeks during the regular season (returning in September) after breaking a bone from a liner on his right chin off the bat of the Pirates Roberto Clemente. Both of the Cardinal runs came from infield grounders off the bat of Roger Maris. Lou Brock slapped four singles in the game, while stealing bases in the third and seventh innings.

As reported by the Boston Globe, equal to the calamity of the Sox dropping Game 1 of the Series was that the stadium ran out of box lunches for members of the press; in addition, the hitting schedule of the teams got confused, preventing the Sox regulars from getting enough batting practice.  The Boston Globe columnist Harold Kaese was all over the team for playing Ken Harrelson in right who let a Roger Maris fly ball plop right in front of him.  ``Who thought Harrelson would get to the ball?, Kaese wondered?  ``Why should he, he can’t play the outfield.  Because Dick Williams is gambling that he will hit a long shot of importance, sooner or later, and that meanwhile, no tough flies will be hit in his direction.  ``The Red Sox are gambling’’ Kaese went on to write.  ``They’ve been gambling all season. Why should they stop now.’’

Spotted at Game 1 at Fenway, was former Ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy, ailing patriarch of the Kennedy clan, who was wheeled into the game by sons Teddy and Bobby Kennedy.  Former Cleveland Indians ace Bob Feller who pitched (and lost) a World Series game in Boston 19 years ago, was also spotted hopping all over the box seats, chatting it up with old friends. Awed by facing the stellar Gibson, Yastrzemski hitless in four trips to the plate, said that `the St. Louis ace was the best pitcher they faced all year.’’ Gibson, who is no stranger to the World Series, won two games in 1964 and set a Series record of 31 strikeouts.

Las Vegas odds makers listed the Cardinals as 3-1 favorites to win the World Series after winning the curtain-raiser.  Oddsmaker Jimmy (The Greek) Snyder, meanwhile, listed the second game as even money. ``You pick em.’’

After the game, Ken Harrelson, a late pick up during the season, joked with reporters that he was the only man in baseball to have a better year than Yastrzemski. ``I went from Charlie Finely in Kansas City to the Red Sox and the World Series.’’

Seats, at least some seats, at Game 1 in Fenway reportedly were selling for $8 and $12.

The lead paragraph of Bud Collins Boston Globe column went as follows: ``Wednesday afternoon’s matinee at Fenway was over-priced and under-active, but at least it was the most forgettable game of the season.’’

 

Game Two

October 5, 1967

Fenway Park

Boston-5

St. Louis-0

With 35,188 fans in attendance on a dark cloudy drizzly Boston afternoon, Red Sox pitcher and Stanford graduate Jim Lonborg; the six-foot five inch right-hander pitched a one-hitter in a 5-0 win, throwing only 93 pitches and didn’t surrender a hit for seven and two-thirds. It was only the fourth one-hitter in World Series history.  His no-hit bid was ruined in the 8^th when Julian Javier slashed a double to right with two men out.   Lonborg had retired 19 consecutive St Louis hitters, until surrendering a walk, his only walk of the game, to Curt Flood in the seventh inning.

Curt Flood upset that Red Sox pitcher Jim Lonborg delivered some chin music to two off his teammates: Lou Brock and Dal Maxvill, threatened his team would retaliate against Carl Yastrzemski, their power hitter. When questioned about Flood’s comments, Longborg, said, ``What do they think I’m going to do, give them home plate?” Brock, on the other hand, wasn’t as nearly as incensed as Flood was about the brush back pitches. ``It’s legal and has been around a lot longer than the players participating in this World Series.’’

Triple-crown winner Carl Yastrzemski crushed a home run to right in the 4^th to give the Sox a one-run lead, and smashed another one over the Red Sox bullpen with two runners on in the 7^th to extend the Sox lead to 5-0. Yaz became only the 16^th player in World Series history to smack multiple home runs in a single World Series game, and the first since Mickey Mantle slugged two in Pittsburgh in 1960. Upset at being hitless in Game One, Yaz took some extra batting practice after Boston’s 2-1 loss, almost unheard of. During the season, Yastrzemski was reportedly paid an annual salary of $60,000, just enough to plunk down money on some post-season expenses, namely, the $2,000 he spent on World Series tickets for family and friends, his wife’s wardrobe for the trip to St. Louis cost him another $1,000 with taxes taking another $3,000 from his pocket. `` Joking with reporters, Yaz said he would only break even with a loser’s share of the World Series, ``so I’ve got to get a winning share.’’

Asked about Lonborg’s one-hitter, Cardinal catcher Tim McCarver, said, ``He threw a lot of breaking stuff and kept the ball down. When you can pitch like that consistently, you should come out ahead.’’

Former Yankees pitcher Don Larsen, the only pitcher to have tossed a no-hitter in the World Series (1956 against the Dodgers) watched Lonborg’s gem from his San Diego home and observed: ``I’d liked to have seen him get it…He did a fine job and I imagine he’s quite happy.’’

The New York Times report Game 3 at Busch Stadium in S. Louis will be well stocked at the concession stands, including its plans to have six tons of hot dogs, 500 half-barrels of beer, 6,000 cases of bottled bear, 5,000 pounds of popcorn, and 5,000 pounds of hamburger patties.

 

Game Three

October 7, 1967

Busch Memorial Stadium

Boston-2

St. Louis-5

As promised after Game 2 by Curt Flood, the St. Louis Cardinals took retaliation against the Red Sox, this time Cardinal pitcher Nelson Briles drilled slugger Carl Yastrzemski in the 1^st inning, and the Cardinals right-hander quickly became public enemy No. 1 in the Boston clubhouse. ``All I can say is now is that if those bush league_ _ _want to play baseball that way, that’s alright with me’’, Red Sox pitcher Jose Santiago told reporters after the game. Briles argued he was gripping the ball too hard-and it just got away from him.  Yaz took the plunking in stride, saying he would have been more upset and would have expected his team to retaliate if the ball was aimed at his head. Instead, the ball hit him squarely on the back of his left leg in the middle of the calf.

Even before Briles took to the mound, he attracted the wrath of the Red Sox when he told reporters a day before the game that the Red Sox are a ``weaker hitting team’’ than any team they face in the National League-including the Dodgers.

Lou Brock opened the game with a triple to left center and later scored on Curt Flood’s hard single to center. The Cardinals added two more in the next frame when Tim McCarver singled and scored on Mike Shannon’s majestic two-run shot into the left field seats. The Red Sox weren’t able to get on the board until the 6^th inning, when Dalton Jones slapped a single to right, scoring Mike Andrews. Lou Brock’s speed again (who reached by way of a drag bunt) helped the Cards score their fourth run in the bottom of the 6^th, when Boston pitcher Lee Stange rifled a ball to first in attempt to pick off Brock; only the ball hit the speedster on the back with the ball rolling down the right field line, allowing Brock to scamper to third. He later scored on Roger Maris’s single to right, his third RBI of the Series. In the 7^th, Reggie Smith brought the Sox to within striking distance (4-2) with a solo shot in the right field stands, but Boston wouldn’t score again. The Cards added another run in the 8^th   to extend their lead to 5-2. Yastrzemski turned in an uneventful day. After being drilled with a pitch in the first, Briles induced the slugger into hitting three routine grounders to Julian Javier at second.

By the time it was over, 54,575 at Busch Stadium saw Briles limit the Sox to seven hits in a complete game performance to put the Cards up in the Series, 2-1.

Sox pitcher Gary Bell was touched up for three runs in the first two frames.  He was replaced after two innings.

Despite the loss, Boston manager Dick Williams was so impressed with Gary Waslewski’s three perfect innings of relief (3^rd-5^th)-that he penciled him in to start Game 6 of the Series.

Commenting on the Yastrzemski plunking in the 1^st inning, Boston Globe writer Harold Kaese, opened up his column with the following words: ``The World Series has gone to war. The ABC of the third game was Antagonism, Belligerency, and Combativeness.’’

In addition to winning Game Three, the Cards were further encouraged seeing two of their key hitters, Orlando Cepeda and Tim McCarver break out of their hitless slumps in this Series.

 

Game 4

October 8, 1967

Busch Memorial Stadium

St Louis-6

Boston-0

54,575 fans in attendance. The game was over before it really even started as the Cardinals jumped on Sox pitcher Jose Santiago for four runs, when his usually effective curve ball was nowhere to be found. Roger Maris continued his hitting barrage, knocking in two of the Cards four runs in the 1^st frame, after drilling a double to the left-field corner. It was Maris’s 5^th RBI of the Series. They added two more in the third with a sac fly by Tim McCarver; Julian Javier doubled in the Cards final run.

Bob Gibson, brilliant in Game One, painted the corners again in yet another masterpiece in Game 4, shutting out the Sox 6-0 on five hits to put the Cards up 3-1 and pushing Boston to the edge of the cliff.  It was a complete game for Gibson, just like Game one. He beat the Yankees twice during the 1964 World Series. The Cardinal ace pitching on only three days’ rest, admitted to reporters he was tired and had to rely more on breaking pitches than his signature fastball.

Only two teams in World Series history have fallen behind, 3-to-1, and have gone on to win the Series: The Pittsburgh Pirates against the Washington Senators in 1925 and the New York Yankees in 1958 against the Milwaukee Braves.

Refusing to be discouraged over the Sox being shutout, Ken Harrelson told reporters after the game, ``I’ll knock one out of here tomorrow, just wait and see.’’

Asked if the playing for the Cardinals in the World Series is as thrilling as when he was with the Yankees, Roger Maris responded, ``They’re  all a thrill.  I just don’t think about the Yankees. That’s the past and this is now.’’

 

Game 5

October 9, 1967

Busch Memorial Stadium

Boston-3

St. Louis-1

On the brink of elimination, pre-med major Jim Lonborg was back on the mound again for the Sox. And the team is happy to report, the operation was successful.  Lonborg, the 24 year-old Californian, came with his golden arm again by allowing only three hits, and his shutout was intact until the 9^th when Roger Maris deposited one of his pitches into the right field seats. The blast came with two out. The Cardinals countered with a slender southpaw: Steve Carlton.  Ken Harrelson put the Sox on the board first in the 3rd, shooting a sharp single through the hole between short and third, scoring Joe Foy. Harrelson, whose defense has been called into question by Boston writers, flashed some leather in the 1^st by snagging Lou Brock’s hard hit line drive in right center.

Despite flirting with a no-hitter in his previous Series start, Lonborg told reporters he had better stuff today. Cards cleanup hitter Orlando Cepeda was 0-4 at the plate, and is now 2-19 in the Series with only one run batted in for the entire Series. He batted a hefty .325 during the season.

With the bases loaded in the 9^th, Elston Howard drove in two runs, looping a fly ball behind first base down the right field line and thanks to an errant throw to the plate by Roger Maris, the Sox were up 3-0.

Cardinals’ catcher Tim McCarver groaned to reporters that when in Boston, he didn’t like some of things he heard, read, and saw on television and on radio. ``Our ball club has respect for them’’.  McCarver said, ``but they don’t respect us.’’  More from McCarver: ``We played in a Series against the Yankees in 1964 and there was mutual respect. That’s the way big league players should be.’’

 

Game 6

Fenway Park

October 11, 1967

Boston-8

St. Louis-4

Rookie manager Dick William’s instincts worked like a charm in starting Gary Waslewski who entered the Series as a ``Who’s Who in Baseball’’, having been kicked around the minors for eight years. Except for getting roughed up in the 2<sup>nd</sup> and 7<sup>th</sup> frames, the 26 year-old’s money pitch, his sinker, worked well, at least well enough to keep the Sox hopes alive to chase their Impossible Dream in a 8-4 win over the Redbirds.  Equal to Waslewski’s solid performance, was the Sox putting together an impressive power surge in the 7<sup>th</sup> with three home runs (a World Series record) off Dick Hughes. The long balls were deposited by Carl Yastrzemski, Reggie Smith, and Rico Petrocelli. Petrocelli also homered in the 2<sup>nd</sup>. ``I never hit fastballs out’’ Rico told reporters, ``and two in one day.’’

Yastrzemski joined Babe Ruth (1923) and Ted Kluszewski (1959) in blasting three home runs over six games. In addition to his three hits, Yaz chased down Tim McCarver’s laser that he snagged right up against the left-field wall.

Lou Brock provided most of the offense for the Cardinals. He knocked in a run in the 3^rd and smacked a two-run homer in the 7th

So this sets the stage for another start for Bob Gibson, the 31-year old pitcher from Omaha,  in the deciding Game 7 at Fenway against the ``Team of Destiny.’’  Asked about the challenge, Gibby said, ``I’m looking forward to it. I know when I tried to pitch in a World Series against the Yankees with only two days rest, I got awful tired, and wore out after the third inning.’’

Lonborg will be pitching on only two days rest; Gibson will have had three days to prepare for the deciding game. Gibson won the first and fourth games of the Series; while Lonborg took the second and fifth game, limiting the Cards to four hits and one run over 18 innings.

 During the year, Longborg pitched twice with only two days rest, winning one of those in a shutout against Kansas City, and getting knocked out in the 3rd in the last week of the season against the Cleveland Indians.

 The Boston Globe noted the Red Sox were 100-1 underdogs to win the pennant when the season began. Boston came in 9^th out of 10 American League teams the year before; and nearly half the baseball experts predicted the Sox would finish dead last in 1967.

The Cardinals are preparing for their sixth World Series Game 7 in franchise history. They have never lost a Game 7.

Cardinal Cushing, the Archbishop of Boston, watched the game from a box seat at Fenway and was reported to have given the Sox a pre-game blessing.

The New York Times reported that Gil Hodges, who just accepted a position to manage the New York Mets, was milling around the batting cages just prior to Game 6.

 

Game 7

October 12, 1967

Fenway Park

St. Louis-7

Boston-2

The Red Sox Cinderella season came to a screeching halt before 35,188 frustrated fans, as Bob Gibson and the St Louis Cardinals soundly defeated the Sox in their home park, 7-2.  Gibson won the third game of the Series, surrendering only three hits and striking out 10. In three starts, the Cardinal right handed fireballer fanned a total of 26 over three games. Gibson joined six other pitchers who were 3-0 in World Series competition. Jim Longborg, working only on two days rest, was knocked out after six innings, have given up 10 singles, including a solo shot by Gibson and another three run blast by Julian Javier. When he walked off the mound for the final time at Fenway, tears were seen streaming down Longborg’s face. The only real cheer for the local crowd came in the 9^th inning, a standing ovation, when Carl Yastrzemski stepped to the plate for his final at-bat in the 9^th. He blistered a sharp single off of Gibson, much to the delight of the Boston fans.

Boston’s first hit didn’t come until the 5^th inning, when George Scott slammed a triple off the center field wall, and scored on a wild pitch to third. They tacked on another harmless run in the 8^th, but by then all the damage had been done.

Lou Brock went into the record books, stealing three bases, giving him seven swipes for the Series, a World Series record. Cardinal manager Red Schoendienst called the speedster the ``most exciting player in the whole show.’’

While a cavalcade of sad, disheartened souls departed Fenway, in St. Louis it seemed like Mardi Gras. The Boston Globe reported that in downtown St. Louis ` avalanches of paper streamed out of office windows.  Clerks and salesgirls ran through the streets littered with paper.’’  And when Bob Gibson fanned George Scott for the final out in the Cardinals 7-2 victory, crowded bars in St. Louis erupted into thunderous cheers; others banged pots and pans, while the streets were tied up in bumper to bumper traffic with horns wailing throughout the city.

In the Red Sox clubhouse, Carl Yastrzemski’s six year-old son, Mike, was reportedly holding back tears, while his father, Carl told reporters, ``Someone has to win, someone has to lose. It’s all part of the great game.’’ When everyone reminded Carl’s son what a great Series it was, he strongly disagreed. ``No, it wasn’t’’, little Yaz said, ``because the Sox lost.’’

Headline of the Los Angeles Herald Examiner: ``Color the Red Sox Blue’’

Mayor John Collins of Boston received the following telegram from the mayor of St. Louis, Alfonso J. Cervantes: ``Sorry about that chief.’’

After Game 7 had concluded, the following message came over the Boston Police Teletype: ``To all Districts and Units-There is no joy in Mudville tonight.’’

While leaving Fenway, Mrs. Barbara Carens Clapp of Wellesley, told a reporter from the Boston Globe that the Sox losing reminded her of a quote from the late Adlai Stevenson after failing in his bid to win the presidency in 1956: ``It hurts too much to laugh, and I’m too old to cry.’’

Lead paragraph of Bud Collins’s Boston Globe column: ``God isn’t dead, as some theologians have suggested. It’s just that He’s moved to St. Louis.’’

Tim McCarver, questioned about the lack of production from the Cardinals cleanup hitter, said: ``I don’t want to hear any criticism of Orlando Cepeda. He got us here.’’

After Game 7,  Cardinal great Stan Musial walked into the clubhouse, wrapped his arms around Cardinal manager Red Schoendienst and said, ``Let’s have a drink. We’ve had a few, haven’t we?’’ Musial and Schoendienst were roommates for more than a decade as Cardinal teammates.

The Red Sox prepared for a long cold winter knowing they hadn’t tasted a world championship since 1918, when Babe Ruth was on their club as a pitcher.

 

-Bill Lucey

[email protected]

October 22, 2013

 

STATS and FACTS for Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Eye-Catchers of the Day

• Washington Post http://is.gd/YC7hCd: ``During a single day last year, the NSA’s Special Source Operations branch collected 444,743 e-mail address books from Yahoo, 105,068 from Hotmail, 82,857 from Facebook, 33,697 from Gmail and 22,881 from unspecified other providers, according to an internal NSA PowerPoint presentation.’’

 

• AP INTERACTIVE: The clock is ticking: U.S. debt ceiling primer:

http://is.gd/WZKjCJ

Without a hike in the legal limit by Oct. 17, the Treasury Department will have to choose who gets paid on time and who gets paid late, which could trigger a default on U.S. obligations — something many experts describe as catastrophic.

 

• The New York Times: http://is.gd/erMX5J

Turning the Page (Historic Graphic)

On Tuesday, The International Herald Tribune will become The International New York Times.

****

 

STATS OF THE DAY:

• ESPN STATS: ``The 9 points by the Colts [in their 19-9 loss to the Chargers Monday night] matches their fewest in a game with Andrew Luck as starting QB.’’
• Peyton Manning, Phillip Rivers, Andrew Luck top 3 ranked quarterbacks in the NFL this season: ESPN http://is.gd/CVI16G
• According to Focus (a German weekly news magazine published in Munich) 68% of Germans believe their country's mission in Afghanistan was a failure; only 23% say it was a success.
• Tech Crunch http://is.gd/HwAQ3i  ``In September, Yahoo reported 350 million monthly active mobile users, up from 300 million reported for February 2013 in its 2012 annual report. ‘’
• According to The Federal Bureau of Investigation preliminary findings of its annual Uniform Crime Report for 2012, The South has been responsible for 82% of executions; the Midwest 12%; and the West 6%. The number of people on death row in the U.S. dropped to 3,082, marking the eleventh consecutive year in which the size of death row decreased. Florida, California, Texas, and Arizona accounted for half of all inmates sentenced to death. The report noted that in 2011 Illinois became the latest state to abolish the death penalty.
• The percentage of insured workers with a deductible of $1,000 or more for single coverage jumped to 34 percent in 2012 from 12 percent in 2007, according to a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust. http://is.gd/NeMbLK
• According to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, if the debt limit is not raised, preventing the Treasury Department from borrowing, the government will only be able to pay bills with the cash it has on hand, which is about $30 billion per day.
• A statistical analysis by Moody’s Analytics, Inc. shows that increased political uncertainty since the recession hit in 2008 has lowered real GDP by close to $150 billion, reduced employment by 1.1 million jobs, and increased unemployment by 0.7 percentage point.
• Most recent data shows the U.S. GDP growing at an annual rate of 1.3 %

 

Findings from the Ultra High Net Worth (UHNW) Wealth Report: 2013 http://is.gd/gwFyC6

• Wealth-X has identified 2,170 billionaires globally, with a total net worth of $6.5 trillion (U.S. dollars), equal to 23 percent of the world’s UHNW total wealth.
• Although the United States and Europe grew faster than Asia in the past 12 months, Wealth-X forecasts that Asia will generate more UHNW individuals and wealth than both regions in the next five years.
• At the current growth rates, Asia’s UHNW population and wealth will eclipse that of Europe in 2021 and 2017 respectively.
• The global UHNW population continues to be dominated by men, who form 88 percent of the total population, as well as self-made individuals, who form 65 percent of the world’s wealthiest individuals.
• Latin America was the only region to suffer a decline, with both its UHNW population and total wealth falling by 600 individuals and $75 billion respectively.
• As Europe’s growth weakens, Asia’s economies will continue to strengthen. The region’s wealth is expected to overtake Europe by 2017.
• 32 percent of US UHNW individuals’ net worth is held in liquid assets, the highest percentage out of all focus countries.
• UHNW women hold $1.2 trillion (U.S. dollars) in wealth in the US, more in dollar terms than any other country.
• Massachusetts was the fastest growing state in the past 12 months, increasing by over 35 percent to become the 10th most populous state in the country, up from a ranking of 17 last year.
• Pennsylvania was the state with the biggest absolute loss of UHNW individuals, with 50 fewer than the year before.

 

Blessed are the peacemakers; so why was Vladimir Putin overlooked?

Interfax

October 11, 2013

Russian commentators have largely criticized the Nobel Committee's decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). Prominent pro-Putin commentator Sergey Markov said that the Nobel Committee was unable to give Russian President Vladimir Putin the award because of "Russophobia" and "anti-Russian hysteria". Others called the award "unfair", a "stupid action" and a "politically clever choice". 

He noted, however, that, ``despite the fact that the Nobel Committee did not decide to award the peace prize to Putin, it is precisely Putin who is the real winner "in the eyes of public opinion.’’

"The prize for the OPCW is a politically clever choice but looks like a cunning move and a way not to give the prize to those who averted a war in Syria.’’

Explaining his critical stance towards the Nobel Committee's decision, [United Russia MP Iosif] Kobzon said: "Precisely Putin launched the mechanism for chemical disarmament in Syria, precisely the Russian leader convinced Syrian President Bashar al-Asad to join the convention on banning this type of weapon."

"Putin launched this mechanism, the mechanism was awarded the peace prize but the author of the idea was not," Kobzon said.

Head of the Russian State Duma's International Affairs Committee Aleksey Pushkov said that the prize is being given in advance. tweeted: "They have started giving the Nobel Prize in advance: first to Obama for fine speeches but not for actions, and now the OPCW which has just started working in Syria.’’

 

***

Today in History

October 15, 2005, The Iraqi constitution was approved by voters in a referendum. It was drafted by members of the Iraqi Constitutional Committee to replace the Transitional Administrative Law (TAL), the law of administration for Iraq prepared by the Coalition Provisional Authority during the transitional period. More than 78 percent of 9.8 million voters approved the document. 63 percent of eligible voters turned out to vote.

 

Word Origin

Crocodile Tears: The word crocodile comes from ancient Greek and Egyptian folklore. Specifically, it comes from the Greek krokodeilos. According to legend, a giant lizard attracted its victims by loud moaning, including the shedding of tears while it devoured them.

 

Looking For a Good Quote?

``Politics is the study of who gets what, when, and how.’’

-Harold D. Lasswell, U.S. political scientist

 

 

-Bill Lucey

[email protected]

October 15, 2013

FACTS and STATS for Friday, October 11, 2013

FACTS and STATS for Friday, October 11, 2013

 

Via ESPN: ``Justin Verlander's last four starts: 27 innings, 15 hits, 0 runs, 6 walks, 43 strikeouts. ''

Justin Verlander hasn't allowed a run since September 18^th. 

 

STATS of the DAY

• How much has Congress been paid since the government shutdown?  $2,600,000

• Rookie MLB starters have lost all 6 of their winner-take-all postseason starts from 2011 to 2013

 

• 4  MLB starters have multiple wins in winner-take-all postseason games-- J.Verlander, B.Gibson, C.Carpenter & M.Cain

 

• Matt Ryan, Eli Manning and Ben Roethlisberger will combine to make $55.1 million this season. Their teams are a combined 1-14.

 

•   N.Y. Giants are 0-6 for the 1st time since 1976 (started 0-9).

 

• Asia-Pacific countries collectively represent more than half of the world's GDP, 44 percent of world trade and 40 percent of world population.

 

• There are 32 million Americans who at present have no medical insurance.

 

**

 

Public Opinion Polls over the government shutdown have been coming thick and fast:

 

• Gallup: Eighteen percent of Americans are satisfied with the way the nation is being governed, down 14 percentage points from the 32% recorded last month before the partial government shutdown began. This is the lowest government satisfaction rating in Gallup's history of asking the question dating back to 1971.

http://is.gd/CHvkE4

• WSJ/NBC poll: 53%  blame Republicans for the shutdown v 31% who blame Obama.

http://is.gd/fEL7ql

• If you could, would you vote to defeat, replace every member of Congress, including your rep? Yes 60%/ No 35% NBC/WSJ    http://is.gd/19bH44 

 

How the Government Shutdown is affecting every agency: Washington Post Graphic http://is.gd/mfFOT0

 

***

Snippets from International Headlines

 

Moscow has no illusions with regards to destruction of Syria's chemical weapons

 

• MOSCOW, October 10 (Itar-Tass)

Russian Foreign Ministry's spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said on Thursday that Moscow did not have any illusions with regards to when chemical weapons in Syria could be destroyed because the process was unlikely to be smooth. "We do not have any illusions about the fulfillment of this complicated task, especially the deadlines which have been set,"

 

"It is clear that the destruction of chemical weapons will not go smoothly. Apart from the hard situation in Syria, some chemical weapons facilities may be located in areas of military hostilities," Lukashevich emphasized.

 

• According to a report this week by Credit Suisse, China now has 6% of the world’s total of ultra-high-net-worth individuals, or those with fortunes in excess of $50 million. That’s second only to the United States, which commands nearly half the world’s total.

Wall Street Journal: http://is.gd/1Pht27

 

• CHINESE researchers may have found the cure for a hangover before it takes hold - lemonade. The Independent reports research from Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou which explains why lemonade, such as Sprite or Schweppes, could be the trick.

http://is.gd/ShSXJQ

 

Today in History:

October 11, 1975: ``NBC's Saturday Night'' (later changed to `` Saturday Night Live'') premieres with Don Pardo introducing the cast on the first show as the "The not for ready, prime time players" instead of their actual name as "The Not Ready For Prime Time Players." The original cast, included: Gilda Radner, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin, Laraine Newman, and Garrett Morris.

Comedian George Carlin was the first host with two musical guests: Billy Preston and Janis Ian.

 

Word Origin

``Pomp and circumstance’’, a phrase used by Sir Edward Elgar for his composition played at high school graduations was originally used in Shakespeare's Othello: ``Pride, pomp and circumstance of glorious war..'' According to William Morris' ``Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins’’, ``Circumstance’’ comes from two Latin words, circum and stare and originally meant ``standing around.'' In the age of Shakespeare it meant any formal show or ceremony.

 

Looking For A Good Quote?

``The fact is, that the public have an insatiable curiosity to know everything, except what is worth knowing.''

-Oscar Wilde

 

-Bill Lucey

[email protected]

October 11, 2013

 

Stats and Facts for Monday, October 7, 2013

Allen Ginsberg

Stats and Facts for Monday, October 7^th, 2013

• October 7, 1955, Allen Ginsberg reads part of  his still unpublished poem ‘Howl'' for the first time to about 150 people gathered at the Six Gallery, 3119 Fillmore Street in San Francisco , a small art gallery and former auto-repair shop. When the poem was published by poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti of the City Lights Bookstore in 1956, it sparked a great deal of controversy, with its references to illicit drugs and sexual practices. Ferlinghetti was eventually charged with distributing obscene literature and was arrested. On October 3, 1957, Judge Clayton W. Horn ruled the poem was not obscene.

Audio version of ``Howl’’ read by Ginsberg: http://is.gd/ZHFeBP

STATS: ``Howl’’ was translated into 25 languages; by the time of Ginsberg’s death in 1997, it had sold 800, 000 copies and well over a million copies by 2004.

FACT: The Sixth Gallery (at 3119 Fillmore Street) in San Francisco is now an Oriental rug shop.

 

• October 7, 2006, seven years ago, celebrated Russian investigative journalist and human rights activist Anna Politkovskaya, 48, was ruthlessly gunned down near her apartment with a Makarov 9-millimeter pistol lying beside her. Her murder remains unsolved and continues to attract international attention.

FACT: According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, there have been 56 journalists killed in Russia since 1992, the fourth deadliest country in the world behind Iraq (151), Philippines (73), and Algeria (60). Worldwide, there have been 1005 journalists killed since 1992.

 

• October 7, 1952, patent #2,612,994 was issued by the U.S. Patent Office to Norman Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver for their invention of the bar code.  Their discovery was inspired by Morse code, by simply extending the dots and dashes into lines. It wouldn’t be commercialized until 1966. The first bar code (Universal Product Code or U.P. C. scanner) was installed at Marsh's supermarket in Troy, Ohio on June 26, 1974. The first product scanned was a 10-pack of Wrigley's Juicy Fruit chewing gum.

FACT: The 10-pack of Wrigley Juicy Fruit scanned in Troy, Ohio on June 26, 1974 is now on display at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.

Patent Search on Google: https://www.google.com/?tbm=pts

U.S Patent and Trademark Office: http://patft.uspto.gov/

 

• Oct. 7, 2001 , U.S. and British forces begin airstrikes in Afghanistan after the Taliban, the country’s ruling power, refuse to hand over al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden who was believed to have been the principal conspirator behind the September 11 attacks. The attacks included the launching of bombs and cruise missiles against Taliban military and communications facilities as well as an assortment of suspected terrorist training camps with Kabul, Kandahar, and Herat incurring the heaviest damage.

STATS: According to the Department of Defense, as of October 1, 2013, there were 2,143 U.S. deaths in Afghanistan alone (as part of Operation Enduring Freedom) with a total of 2,276 deaths worldwide.

 

• Americans and the Vatican Seeing Eye to Eye;

According to a new poll by Quinnipiac University, 68 % of U.S. Catholics agree with Pope Francis that the Church has become too focused on homosexuality, abortion, and contraceptives, while 60% of the country’s Catholics support the ordination of women priests. http://is.gd/soQmMB  

 

• U.S. Government Shutdown

What’s Open?  Airports, U.S. Postal Service, Federal Courts, Federal Prisons, Kennedy Center, Amtrak, military.

What's Closed? National Parks, National Zoo, U.S. Capitol, Free Museums.

The Washington Post breaks it down:  http://is.gd/4QFCEJ

FACT: The longest U.S. government shutdown lasted 21 days, from December 16, 1995, to January 6, 1996.

FACT: Since 1976, there have been 17 times when Congress has allowed government funding to lapse, though not all of those lapses led to actual, physical shutdowns.

STATS: The military's 1.4 million active-duty personnel will stay on duty, while about 800,000 of the two million federal employees will not be paid.

 

• The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Forbes Magazine breaks down MLB's 2013 attendance figures, which shows that eight clubs surpassed the three-million mark (Dodgers, Cardinals, Giants, Yankees, Rangers, Tigers, Angels, and Phillies); The San Francisco Giants ended the 2013 season with 246 consecutive sell-outs, dating back to October 1, 2010, for the longest active streak in the Majors, while there were 9 games that had attendance under 10,000, four of those belonging to the Cleveland Indians, the Seattle Mariners with two, and the Pittsburgh Pirates and Tampa Bay Rays each having one game below the Mendoza Line.

http://is.gd/gaAkkk

 

NFL Stats and Facts for Sunday, October 7, 2013: Week 5

• Peyton Manning, who passed Dan Marino, now ranks 2nd in NFL history with 61,371 career passing yards.

 

• Eli Manning now has a league-high 12 interceptions as the Giants drop to 0-5 for the first time since 1987.

 

• The Kansas City Chiefs are 5-0 for the first time since 2003.

 

• Tom Brady's streak of 52 straight games with a TD pass comes to an end with 13-6 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. Drew Brees holds the NFL record with 54.

 

• Dallas Cowboys QB Tony Romo is the 5th QB to throw for at least 500 yards and 5 TDs in game; and is only one of seven star-crossed QBs to lose while throwing for 500+ yards.

 

-Bill Lucey

[email protected]

October 7, 2013

 

October 1, 1910: The Bombing of the L.A. Times

October 1, 1910, is a day that will live in infamy at the Los Angeles Times.

It was on this day, shortly after 1 a.m., when 20 Times' employees were killed after a time bomb constructed of 16 sticks of 80 percent dynamite connected to an alarm clock detonated in an alley (known as ``Ink Alley'') next to the Los Angeles Times building at First Street and Broadway in Los Angeles.

The bomb exploded with such violence, that many were convinced an earthquake had struck.

To many, it was known as the ``Crime of the Century.''

A night city editor, the principal telegraph operator, and many more dedicated newspaper employees fell to their death amid the destructive carnage. At the time of the explosion, there were 115 people in the building.

Additional bombs were planted in the bushes of the homes of L.A. Times executives, Gen. Harrison Gray Otis, publisher of the newspaper, and Felix J. Zeehandelaar head of a Los Angeles business organization. Both of these bombs failed to detonate.

After the rubble and the dust had cleared, it didn't take long to figure out the motive of the bombing. Otis, the publisher of the Times was a staunch anti-unionist and leader of the Merchants and Manufacturing Association, a powerful group of business owners.

After some investigation, it was determined the bombing was carried out by a Midwestern labor union in retaliation for the paper's aggressively anti-union policies and practices.

Two primary perpetrators of this cowardly act:  J.B. McNamara, and J.J. McNamara (both brothers) were arrested, tried and sent to prison. They were spared the death penalty only through the skillful bargaining of their defense attorney: Clarence Darrow.

During the course of the trial, Otis tore into the unions, labeling them: "anarchic scum," "cowardly murderers," "leeches upon honest labor," and "midnight assassins."

Those who were killed on this fateful day were buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, where a bronze plaque lists their names.

For those who want to learn more about this bombing, Scott Harrison of The Los Angeles Times has put together a photogallery (at the Times’ photo blog Framework) .

-Bill Lucey

[email protected]

October 1, 2013

Merkel's Resounding Victory: How It's Playing in Berlin

Amid Hillary Clinton’s march to the White House, hoping to be the first female U.S. President, few have noticed German chancellor Angela Merkel, 59,  has already lapped her as the second most powerful politician in the world, according to Forbes Magazine , just a tick behind President Barack Obama and ahead of Russian president Vladimir Putin (no. 3) and departing Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke (no. 6).

Merkel or `Mutti’’ (mother of the nation) as she has been hailed for her cautious pragmatic tough-love approach to the eurozone crisis, struck big in the German national elections with her Christian Democratic Union, and their allies, the Christian Social Union in Bavaria capturing 41.5 percent of the popular vote on Sunday, their best showing in more than 20 years, winning 311 of the 630 seats in Parliament, just five votes short of a majority.  According to The New York Times, Konrad Adenauer was the last chancellor to receive an absolute majority in 1957.

Merkel tried in vain to tamp down the deafening cheers of ``Angie!, Angie!,’’ at CDU headquarters; but when the roars did die down, she told her euphoric supporters, "We can celebrate tonight because we have done something fantastic’’, while urging her party to  celebrate a ``super result’’ as she begins her third term.

The only downside to Merkel’s conservative party victory was that she must now find a new coalition party, since the Free Democratic Party failed to make it over the 5 percent threshold, meaning the CDU/CSU will more than likely enter into a coalition with either the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) or the Greens.

A noteworthy election casualty was the Alternative für Deutschland, the protest anti-euro party, fell just shy of the 5 percent threshold, which means only four parties, will be represented in the Bundestag.

As a further boon to Merkel’s leadership, voter turnout increased for the first time since 1998 from 70.8 percent to 72.5 percent, according to the Bild newspaper, a German tabloid.

What follows is a brief sampling of headlines in Germany, splashing news of Merkel’s remarkable election victory.

 

• ``CDU/ CSU Clear Winners in Fed Election’’: The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ).

 

• ``Merkel Triumphs, FDP Suffers Debacle’’: The Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ)

 

• ``Merkel’s Greatest Triumph’’ (Bild)

 

• ``Merkel’s Triumph’’ (Welt)

 

• ``Now Merkel Has To Choose’’ (Tagesspiegel)

 

• ``Chancellor Now looking For a Partner ‘’(B.Z),

 

• ``The Euro Chancellor’’ (Handelsblatt)

 

****

Preliminary Fed election results:

• CDU/ CSU 41.5 percent (+7.7 on 2009 result),
• SPD 25.7 percent (+2.7),
• FDP 4.8 percent (-9.8)
• Left Party 8.6 percent (-3.3),
• Greens 8.4 percent (-2.3)
• Pirates 2.2 percent (+0.2)
• Alternative für Deutschland 4.7 percent (+4.7)

 

***

New Composition of Bundestag

• CSU 311 seats (+72 compared to 2009
• SPD 192 (+46)
• Left Party 64 (-12)
• Greens 63 (-5)

-Bill Lucey

[email protected]

September 23, 2013

162 Years Ago, The New York Times Began Publishing

162 years ago today, Henry J. Raymond, Speaker of the New York State Assembly and George Jones, an Albany banker, began  publishing The New-York Daily Times at 113 Nassau Street.

What follows is a historic timeline of  the Times from its inception until 2010, the year I stopped updating the timeline.

I originally researched and compiled this in 2001 on the Times' 150th anniversary.

-Bill Lucey

****

• September 18, 1851: Henry J. Raymond, Speaker of the New York State Assembly and George Jones, an Albany banker, begin publishing The New-York Daily Times at 113 Nassau Street.
  
  Note: Raymond worked for Horace Greeley at the New York Tribune before teaming with Jones.
• September 11, 1852: Raymond Rotham writes the first theater review for The Times.
• September 14, 1857: The New York Times replaces The New-York Daily Times as the new name of the paper.
• April 21, 1861: The New York Times launches a Sunday edition. The first edition sold for 2 cents.
  
  Note: The Sunday Monitor (Baltimore, MD) published the first Sunday newspaper on December 18, 1796.
• September, 1869: Maria Morgan is the first female reporter to occupy a desk in The Times newsroom, where she's assigned to stock news, horse shows, and racing.
  Note: Sara Jane Clark was the first woman reporter on The Times payroll, submitting travel pieces from the West and Europe using the pen name Grace Greenwood
• July 22, 1871: The Times expose the crooked dealings of Tammany Hall's William Marcy Tweed, or "Boss Tweed", who, along with others, had been stealing millions from the New York City Treasury, according to documents presented to the paper by his enemies. The story displayed figures from the Controller's books showing large chunks of money were being diverted to the Tammany Ring. George Miller, a carpenter, according to the ledger, was to have received $360,747 for repairing a courthouse, which was never completed. Miller never received a dime. The checks were actually endorsed by firms in partnership with Tweed.
  
  The deception evident in these revelations marked the beginning of the end for Tweed and his underhanded operation. He was convicted on corruption charges and sentenced to prison.
  
  This page one story ran under a three-column headline and is believed to have been the paper's first display heading. The first Times article to report Tweed's malfeasance appeared July 8th.
  
  Note: Tweed's associates offered The Times $5 million if they would kill the story. The Times refused.
• 1872: The New York Times promotes itself as "the only Republican paper in New York."
• March 25, 1878: In a short lived experiment, The Times begin publishing the first of three supplements written in Spanish.
• April 13, 1893: The Times is sold to The New York Times Publishing Company. Charles R. Miller, the editor of the paper, was named president. Managing editor George F. Spinney became the publisher and business manager. In announcing the new management team on April 14th, the paper reports "The Times will be a Democratic newspaper."
• August 19, 1896: Adolph S. Och's name first appears on The Times editorial page listing him as publisher after becoming principal owner the previous day.
• September 6, 1896: The first photographs appeared in the Illustrated Sunday Magazine, the paper's first regular supplement. The magazine was discontinued after the September 3rd, 1899 edition.
  
  Note: The first half tone illustration was published in The New York Daily Graphic on March 4, 1880.
• October 8, 1896: The Times begin publishing summaries of major news stories on page one under the logo: "The News Condensed."
• October 10, 1896: The Times begins a book review section, The Saturday Review of Books and Art, based on the assumption books can and should be treated as news.
• October 25, 1896: The Times slogan: "All the News That's Fit to Print" makes its first appearance on the editorial page.
  
  Note: A portion of the slogan: "All The News" was actually taken from The Philadelphia Times; Ochs and The Times' editors merely added "Fit To Print".
• December 1, 1896: The hyphen from The New York Times is dropped once a style change is universally accepted.
  
  Note: The New-York Historical Society is the only institution to keep the hyphen in its name.
• February 10, 1897: The Times motto: "All The News That's Fit To Print", is moved from the editorial page to page one.
• July 4, 1897: The Times spends $5,000 on a finer quality print in order to publish photographs of Queen Victoria's procession during her Jubilee celebration in June.
• August 14, 1900: Adolph Ochs officially takes control of The Times when the Equitable Life Insurance Society votes to give him the controlling stock in the company after showing a profit for three consecutive years.
• September 25, 1901: The Times publishes its Jubilee Issue, which includes a 40-page supplement on the history of the paper.
• May 31, 1903: In celebration of New York's City's 250th anniversary, historian Thomas A. Javier writes for The Times 7 condensed chapters on its founding: I. "The Planting of the City", II. `The Dutch West India Company", III. "The Dutch Rule of New Netherland", IV. "How New Netherland Became New York", V. Our First Reform Governor" VI. "New York Under English Rule" and chapter VII. "The Lessons of Three Hundred Years".
• January 18, 1904: New York City boasts 13 dailies, including The Times. By March of 1964, ten of those 13 either folded or merged. Of those that survived, The New York Post (1801) beginning April 6, 1942, under Dorothy Schiff, changed from being a broadsheet into a 6-day a week tabloid. The Morning Telegraph (1897) segued into a horse racing paper and reporting news from Broadway before folding on April 10, 1972. The Times (1851) was the only paper to keep its format unaltered since its inception.
  
  Note: After the New York City newspaper strike of 1962 that lasted 114 days and caused the industry financial hardship beyond repair, the city's daily newspapers are quickly pared down. In 1963, The Mirror declared bankruptcy. The Herald Tribune ceased operations in 1966 and a year later two others folded: The World Telegram and Sun and The Journal-American.
  
  The New York Daily News began publishing on June 26, 1919, as the Illustrated Daily News, the first tabloid in America. New York Newsday launched on September 11, 1983, and closed after the July 16, 1995 issue. Its parent newspaper, Newsday, founded by Alicia Patterson in Hempstead, Long Island, was first published on September 3, 1940.
• April 8, 1904: "Long Acre Square" is re-named "Times Square" after the New York City Board of Alderman passes an ordinance.
  
  Note: On May 1, 1894, The Times report the triangle bordering 32nd and 34th Streets and Broadway and Sixth Avenue was named "Greeley Square", home to Horace Greeley's New York Tribune. Less than a year later, on February 5, 1895, the New York City Board of Alderman passed a similar ordinance naming the area around Broadway and 35th and 36th Street "Herald Square" in honor of James Gordon Bennett Jr. and his New York Herald.
• October 28, 1904: The New York Times writes extensively about the opening of the NYC Subway that extends from City Hall to One Hundred and Forty-Fifth Street and Broadway accompanied by a map on page 2 showing the stations on the route. The paper reported a number of notable firsts, such as: F.B. Shipley, from Philadelphia, was the first man to give up a seat for a woman; the first subway ticket was purchased by Joseph Curran of 310 West Forty-eighth Street; the first theft on the subway was reported by Henry Barrett of 348 West Forty-sixth Street who noticed his diamond horseshoe pin missing 3 minutes after buying his ticket; and the first subway delay took place two hours after the subway opened on the express train at the 14th Street Brooklyn Bridge Station due to a broken brake hose. The most prophetic statement came from an unnamed passenger who reportedly said: "Mark my words; the Subway is going to boom the newspaper business. When you get in there's nothing to look at except the people, and that's a tiresome job."
  
  Note: On April 9, 1890, the first Rapid Transit Commission was created recommending a steam railroad run on a viaduct from the Brooklyn Bridge to Astor Place and from there a subway to 42nd Street.
• January 1, 1905: The final issue of The New York Times is printed at the old Jones Building (41 Park Row) in Lower Manhattan, famed Newspaper Row, where more than a dozen New York City dailies once called home. It includes a 48 page illustrated supplement on their new building, Times Tower, at 42nd and Broadway.
• January 1, 1905: The New York Times begins placing a poem on the editorial page. Fredrick Craig Martiner conceived the idea. The last poem to appear on the editorial page was on June 16, 1973.
  
  Note: Beginning February 17, 2002, The Times started a new feature in the Book Review section, in which they will publish original poetry from accomplished writers as well as unknown poets.
• October 29, 1905: A separate section is created devoted to music drama and society.
• January 7, 1906: Paul Piper introduced a comic strip in the rotogravure section of The Times--the only one in the paper's history--chronicling the travels of two bears: The Roosevelt Bears. The comic strip lasted through July 22nd. Many believe it was modeled after Teddy Roosevelt, an avid bear hunter.
  
  Note: The New York Daily Telegraph was the first newspaper to feature a comic strip beginning September 11, 1875 called "Professor Tigwissel's Burglar Alarm". The New York World was the first to feature Sunday comics in 1893.
• December 31, 1906 Adolph Ochs drops an illuminated globe from the top of his new building, Times Tower in Times Square on New Year's Eve. This public relations innovation marked the beginning of an annual ritual.
  
  Note: The only time the ball didn't drop from Times Square on New Year's Eve (since 1907) were two years during World War II, 1942 and 1943, due to a wartime dim-out.
• June 5, 1910: The New York Times publishes the full-text transcript of former president Theodore Roosevelt's address he delivered at the Guildhall in London, where he roundly criticized British foreign policy in Egypt. This is thought to have been the first time the paper reproduced a speech of any kind word-for-word.
• January 29, 1911: The Book Review moves from Saturday to Sunday.
• October 9, 1912: The Times report on the mass gathering surrounding the paper's new electric scoreboard at Times Square to watch the New York Giants play the Boston Red Sox during game one of the 1912 World Series. The scoreboard allowed fans outside of the Polo Grounds-- for the first time-- to watch every play of a baseball game. At the time of publication, this was the largest crowd ever to assemble at Times Square.
• December 15, 1912: The Times launch "Hundred Neediest Cases", a public donation appeal for the less fortunate during the holiday season.
• February 2, 1913: The Times Annex at 229 West 43rd Street is opened.
• April 23, 1913: The Times writes on the unveiling of The New York Times Index, a quarterly publication that will provide readers for the first time with citations (date, page, column, along with a brief summary) to articles previously published. Items are to be indexed by name and subject and will include cross-references, making it an indispensable news source for tracking current events.
  NOTE: In 1886, Henry J. Raymond and others published the "Index to The New York Times For 1865", containing 182 pages of news references. Earlier indexes were made available for staff members only.
• March 29, 1914: The Times along with 6 other newspapers introduce rotogravure sections showing pictures from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The other papers were: The Boston Sun Herald, The Philadelphia Public Ledger, the Chicago Tribune, The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch and The Kansas City Star.
  Note: The last issue of The Times picture rotogravure section was published on February 8, 1942, when it merged with The Sunday Magazine.
• August 23, 1914: The Times publish the British White Paper in its entirety, the document outlining Britain's decision to enter the war.
• November 10, 1918: A cartoon by Hy Mayer was published alongside a news story on the eve of the armistice of World War I depicting the abdication of the German emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm. This is thought to be the first cartoon to accompany a news story in a daily newspaper.
• September 18, 1921: The Times publishes its 70th Anniversary issue, coinciding with the publication of a new book by Times staff writer Elmer Davis: "History of The New York Times."
• 1927: To entice libraries into archiving their paper, The Times calls itself "The Paper of Record".
• November 6, 1928: The Times begins to display election results for pedestrians on the exterior of The Times Tower at the corner of Broadway and 42nd Street.
• March 7, 1930: The New York Times is the first major newspaper to begin using the word Negro in the upper case. An editorial stated future references to the race would be treated as equitably as other races and nationalities.
  
  Note: Negro is the Spanish and Portuguese word for black. The English borrowed it during the 16th Century.
• June 7, 1931: Waldemar Kaempffert, an engineer, who had been writing on Science topics for The Times beginning in 1927, introduces a regular Science column in the Sunday edition.
• April 23, 1933: Magazine advertisements begin using color ads.
  Note: The New York Recorder published the first color ad on April 2, 1893.
• April 26, 1933: Arthur Krock, The Times Washington bureau chief, begins attaching his name to a column on the editorial page, representing the first signed column to appear on the editorial page.
  
  Note: The first initials attached to an editorial were on March 2, 1871, when C.R.M. appeared at the bottom of an editorial written by Charles R. Miller
• February 13, 1935: When the Navy's dirigible Macon exploded off the California coast, The New York Times experimenting with fax technology for the first time, published photos of the disaster the following day thanks to a portable facsimile transmitter sending the photos over a phone line from San Francisco to New York.
  
  NOTE: The first successful fax transmission from a news organization took place on January 1, 1935, when the wire photo service of the Associated Press sent eight newspapers aerial photos of a plane crash in the Adirondack Mountains, a short distance from Newhouseville, NY.
• August 4, 1934: The first weather map in the paper's history is published extending three-columns and accompanies a news story.
• January 25, 1935: The Times ushers in a new Sunday section: The "News of the Week in Review" under the direction of Lester Markel.
  
  Note: The New York Sun is believed to have been the first major newspaper to offer a summary of the week's news events when introduced "It Happened This Week" on December 26, 1931. The feature lasted until 1946.
• April 8, 1935: Adolph Ochs dies
  
  Note: As a tribute, teletypes at the Associated Press fell silent for two minutes when news of his death is learned.
• May 7, 1935: Arthur Hays Sulzberger, Adolph Ochs son-in-law, is elected president and publisher of The New York Times Company by the board of directors. In conjunction with that announcement, a new position -general manager- was created and filled by Ochs nephew, Julius Ochs Adler.
• November, 1935: Back issues of The New York Times from 1914-1927 become available on microfilm.
  
  Note: The New York Herald Tribune was the first newspaper to make microfilm available of its current issues beginning with the January 1, 1936 edition.
• February 1, 1937: The first woman in Times history to sit on the editorial board is Anne O'Hare McCormick. She begins a column: "Affairs in Europe", later re-named "Abroad."
  
  Note: McCormick was also the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize in 1937.
• February 6, 1937: The Times begins the first of 50 editorials ("Remaking The Judiciary") attacking President Franklin Roosevelt on his court-packing scheme.
• June 15, 1938: The New York Times predicts war is at hand in Europe and encourages the United States to free itself from the Neutrality Act and play an active role in the approaching conflict when it writes: "The U.S. would and should be prepared to defend a way of life which is our way of life and the only way of life worth living."
  
  Note: This marks the beginning of a new activism in Times news coverage and it has been observed this was an editorial that Adolph Ochs would never have allowed.
• October 9, 1939: Times writer Meyer Berger introduces a new column: "About New York".
• June 7, 1940: With European countries falling like dominoes at the hands of Nazi Germany, New York Times editorial calls for compulsory military training as a first step to protecting the country's national security.
• April 21, 1941: The Times reach a settlement on a Guild contract covering all commercial departments--business, circulation, promotion, and advertising. The contract, however, does not extend to news and editorial employees.
• February 15, 1942: The crossword puzzle makes its first appearance in the Sunday Magazine.
  
  Note: The first crossword puzzle to appear in a daily newspaper was in The World on December 21, 1913, at the suggestion of Arthur Wynne.
• May 1, 1942: The Times agrees to a Guild contract covering the news and editorial departments.
• August 9, 1942: The Book Review section introduces a "Best Seller's List."
• March 22, 1943: Maintenance workers are brought under the Guild's jurisdiction.
• December 7, 1943: Abraham Michael ("Abe") Rosenthal submits his first story for The Times ("Spirit of C.C.N.Y. A Sad, Sad Story") as a 12 dollar a week college stringer. He became a full-time employee in 1944, and on October 20, 1945, his official byline: A.M Rosenthal appears for the first time.
• July 18, 1944: The Federal Communications Commission approves The Times purchase of radio station WQXR, which will be used for hourly newscasts as well as facsimile short-wave experiments.
• 1945: George Streator was the first African-American reporter to be hired at The New York Times.
• April 26, 1945: The Times report on a four-page wire edition that was sent by facsimile and delivered to members of a United Nations conference in San Francisco just after midnight (West Coast time) of the paper's next morning edition. The facsimile transmission consisting of conference and international news marked a journalism milestone.
  
  Note: The Associated Press and the Richmond (Calif.) Independent assisted The Times with the transmission of the special wire edition.
• August 11, 1946: The Times introduce an editorial change announcing they will no longer refer to the race of persons suspected of a crime unless race is relevant to the story.
• November 3, 1946: The Times unveil a fashion section: "Fashion of the Times"‘, which began with a spring preview of 1947.
• June 20, 1949: The Times begin printing an International Edition in Paris, making it available in Europe 24 hours after publication. Prior to that, on December 11, 1948, the paper started an International Air Edition. It was produced in New York and flown to Paris daily.
  
  Note: On May 17, 1967, The Times report on the closing of their offices in Paris after agreeing to merge the International Edition with their Paris competitor: The New York Herald Tribune-The Washington Post International. The new publication was named the International Herald Tribune beginning May 22, 1967.
• September 11, 1950: The daily publication of The Times now includes a crossword puzzle.
• September 17, 1951: The Times publishes its One Hundredth Anniversary issue, carrying the headline: "A Century of the Times." In celebration of hitting the century mark, The Times previously assigned staff writer Meyer Berger to write a book on the history of the paper, entitled: "The Story Of The New York Times 1851-1951."
• November 16, 1952: Clellon Holmes, in a Sunday Magazine article, introduces readers to the "Beats", the post World War II generation disconnected from American mores, who rebel against its moral and political conformities through drug use, hanging around jazz clubs, and putting thoughts to words in poetry, essays, and other literary contributions.
  
  Holmes observed: "There are those who believe that in generations such as this there is always the constant possibility of a great new moral idea, conceived in desperation, coming to life. Others note the self-indulgence, the waste, the apparent social irresponsibility, and disgrace."
  
  Note: The term Beats was coined by John Kerouac in his novel "The Town and the City": "It was several years ago, when the face was harder to recognize, but he has a sharp, sympathetic eye, and one day he said, "You know, this is really a beat generation."
• September, 1954: The first black woman appears on The Times Society page.
• October 27, 1954: Cy Sulzberger begins writing his "Foreign Affairs" column.
• January 5, 1956: A New York Times editorial ("Voice Of A Free Press") responds to the menace of McCarthyism and in particular to Senator James Eastland's subcommittee investigating suspected Communists infiltrating media organizations. According to the editorial, the subcommittee appeared to be targeting Times staff members in their witch-hunts, due to the paper's criticism of Senator Joseph McCarthy, including its reporting on the "abusive methods" used while questioning witnesses.
  
  The editorial concludes: "Long after Senator Eastland and his present subcommittee are forgotten, long after segregation has lost its final battle in the South, long after all that was known as McCarthyism is a dim unwelcome memory, long after the last Congressional committee has learned that it cannot tamper successfully with a free press, The New York Times will still be speaking for the men who make it, and only for the men who make it and speaking without fear or favor, the truth as it sees it."
  
  Note: Charles Merz wrote the editorial and many considered it representative of The New York Times principles. Until the newsroom was remodeled, the manifesto hung on the wall of the editorial department's 10th Floor reception area. McCarthyism, a political term for witch-hunting, was coined by Max Lerner in an April 5th, 1950 New York Post article, which carried the headline: "McCarthyism: The smell of Decay".
• March 13, 1956: The Times publishes an in depth study of the American South chronicling how selected states in the region are adapting to the May 17, 1954 U.S. Supreme Court landmark decision abolishing segregation in public schools. The lead paragraph of the study warned there was a social revolution facing the country with "profound implications."
  
  Note: Another pioneering survey of the Deep South was published by U.S. News & World Report on March 23, 1956, when reporting on blacks putting economic pressure on white owned businesses through a series of well orchestrated boycotts. The businesses boycotted were supporting groups promoting racial superiority. Another group of white owned business owners were similarly being boycotted from members of their own race who were upset with them for giving financial support to civil rights organizations, such as the NAACP, compounding the region's racial strife.
• August 20-23, 1956: The Times experiment again with fax technology--this time during the Republican Convention--where news pages produced in New York were transmitted over phone lines to San Francisco and then distributed to delegates at the convention hall.
  
  Note: On February 28th, 1959, The Times report the selling of The Times Facsimile Company to Litton Industries for $1,250,000.
• March 19, 1959: The New York Times was the first publication to reveal details of a secret government project code-named Project Argus, in which 3 atomic bombs were launched in the South Atlantic and detonated in space. The tests were significant from a military standpoint in that the government learned a great deal about nuclear emissions in space, which would help them with the development of an anti-ballistic missile system. The story described the atom blasts as "the greatest scientific experiment of all time." The first firing was conducted on July 31, 1958.
  
  Note: The Times had knowledge of the tests even before they took place but withheld reporting on it after leading scientists cautioned them that if word of this experiment were made public--protests in all likelihood would follow--which would have forced them to scrap the project.
• July 6, 1959: A bridge column is added as a regular feature to The Times daily edition by Albert H. Morehead.
  
  Note: There was a bridge column in the drama section of The Times beginning in 1935.
• January 10, 1961: The Times give readers a preview of the Bay of Pigs operation in the making when they report on U.S. military forces operating in Retalhuleu, Guatemala training anti-Castro forces for what is believed to be a planned offensive against Cuba.
• April 25, 1961: Orvil E. Dryfoos is named The Times new publisher by the board of directors after Arthur Ochs Sulzberger steps down, assuming the title of chairman.
• August 14, 1961: With Babe Ruth's 60 home run record in danger of being broken by Mickey Mantle who just hit his 45th home run followed by Roger Maris's 44, fans question whether the ball has been altered or "juiced", which may account for the recent home run surge. Accordingly, The Times commission a scientific analysis conducted by Foster D. Snell Inc. Consulting Chemists and Engineers that compares baseballs from 1961 against those from 1927, the year Ruth set his record. Their conclusions? The analysis proved inconclusive, though, it did find baseballs from 1961 were livelier and lighter in weight distribution than the ones from 1927, taking into consideration that it could be due to "age deterioration."
• April 16, 1962: Al Horowitz introduces a chess column for the Sunday edition of The Times. Robert Byrne succeeded Horowitz in the 1970's.
• June 1, 1962: The Times writes an editorial in Latin ("Quatenus Mortua Lingua Latina?") in response to the language's removal from the public school curriculum.
• September 23, 1962: Fred J. Cook, in a Sunday Magazine article for The Times, previews a new nationwide telephone system soon to take effect: All Number Calling (ANC) in which a simple seven digit extension will replace the present cumbersome system of dialing the area code, followed by the first two letters of a persons name along with an identifying numeral (exchange designation) and finally the four numbers of a customer's exchange before a long distance call can be made. Cook notes: "Somewhere around the corner looms a new phenomenon, global dialing, where, by the use of area codes, you can call London or Afghanistan (assuming you know anyone in Afghanistan)". Other traces of the future reported by Cook include: A system for redirecting telephone calls to another location by punching a two-number code; touch-tone dialing replacing rotary dialing was yet another new feature that was being tested in Findlay, Ohio and Greensburg, Pa. The story also mentions "pushbuttons" (known today as speed dialing) as the wave of the future, making connections possible by a mere press of a button.
  
  NOTE: The first transcontinental telephone call occurred on January 25, 1915, between New York and San Francisco and it was reported in The Times on June 7, 1958, that The New York Telephone Company was planning to experiment with person-to-person dialing with Mid-Manhattan residents.
• October 1, 1962: The Times begin publishing a Western edition.
  
  NOTE: The West coast edition was discontinued after October 24, 1964
• May 25, 1963: Orvil E. Dryfoos dies.
• June 21, 1963: At age 37, The Times announce the naming of Arthur Ochs ("Punch") Sulzberger as the new publisher.
• October 12, 1963: The obituary of playwright and poet, Jean Cocteau, represents the first obit that began The Times tradition of writing detailed biographical sketches of prominent figures at the urging of the metropolitan editor at the time, A.M. Rosenthal.
• December 17, 1963: The Times breaks new ground reporting on social issues with their page one story centering on the homosexual community ("Growth of Overt Homosexuality In City Provokes Wide Concern") around Manhattan's Greenwich Village. The story explores whether homosexuals are growing to alarming proportions as the headline suggests, or rather, if a more liberated public tolerates freer sexual expression. Attempts to understand homosexuality from a medical and sociological perspective through the gathering of opinions from specialists is examined. The story also reports on a piece of street lingo gaining currency: "There is a homosexual jargon once intelligible only to the initiate, but now part of New York slang. The word gay has been appropriated as the adjective for homosexual."
  
  Note: Not until 1987 does The New York Times begin using the word gay as a synonym for homosexual.
• March 9, 1964: The U.S. Supreme Court in Times v. Sullivan overturns a previous $500,000 libel award and rules that a public official cannot sue a newspaper for compensatory damages merely for negative reporting unless deliberate malice can be proved. In the case, Montgomery Ala. Commissioner L.B. Sullivan sued The Times along with four Alabama ministers: Ralph D. Abernathy, Fred L. Shuttlesworth, S.S. Seay Sr. and J.E. Lowery over a full-page advertisement that ran in The Times on March 29, 1960, entitled "Heed Their Rising Voices". The ad was soliciting funds for Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement in the South, which attacked the criminal treatment of blacks, including the bombing of Dr. King's home by "Southern violators." Despite no public official being named, Sullivan nonetheless argued the illegal activity described in the ad unjustly implicated him, resulting in defamation of character. The Times maintained the suit was brought against them for no other reason than to intimidate news organizations from reporting on public official's unlawful actions in the South.
  
  NOTE: The case was a landmark decision in determining how newspapers and television networks would pursue reporting on race relations in the South. Prior to the decision, libel actions brought against news organizations ballooned to nearly $ 300 million from Southern states, forcing many to tread lightly when reporting on civil rights violations for fear of being held liable. It has been argued, if The Times lost the decision, it could have conceivably stilled the aggressive reporting of news organizations like The Times and left the lawlessness in the region to go unreported.
• May 29, 1964: The New York Times published a page one story about the Blood Brothers, a black youth gang operating in Harlem who were reportedly recruiting and training forces planning to kill whites.
  The Times met with an outpouring of criticism once the story rolled off the presses. Questions were raised, for instance, whether there ever was such a gang by that name. Even if they existed, a Times' editor acknowledged, they carelessly relied too much on police accounts of the gang and the danger they posed to the community, which later were to be found exaggerated. The reporter who wrote the story eventually resigned. Other papers picked up on it reshaping it with sensational headlines, such as "HARLEM MAU MAU"--creating a sense of hysteria in the community and may have contributed to the riot that inflamed Harlem on July 18th (lasting through the 23rd) after a black youth was shot by an off-duty white police lieutenant, leading to scores of arrests, injuries, and causing $50,000 in property damage.
  
  Note: Two other major riots that engulfed Harlem occurred on March 19, 1935, when a group of Harlem residents went on a rampage after erroneously learning a black youth, caught stealing in a store, was beaten to death by police; and on August 1, 1943, a black military policeman was shot by a white police officer after the soldier reportedly tried to steal the officer's night stick while arresting a woman for disorderly conduct. A riot ensued when Harlem residents heard the black military officer was killed. In fact, the soldier was merely treated for a minor arm injury at Sydenham Hospital.
• February 9, 1965: The first Times editorial to question President Lyndon Johnson's escalation of the war in Vietnam is published. It corresponded with the Vietcong attack on Pleiku and the U.S. decision to assist the South Vietnamese in the bombing of North Vietnam.
• April 25, 1966: The Times publishes their first real analysis of the CIA that examines if the agency is running an "invisible government" operating independently outside the control of the executive branch. Questions were additionally raised why the CIA, unlike other agencies, is protected from outside oversight and review. The story set off sirens within the halls of Congress about the growing influence of the agency and whether it should be subject to greater scrutiny.
• February 21, 1967: The period that followed "The New York Times" masthead on page one is dropped.
• March 6, 1967: The New York Times is the first major newspaper to begin publishing a large type weekly for the visually impaired.
• December 11, 1968: Arthur Hays Sulzberger dies in his sleep at his (1115) Fifth Avenue residence.
  Note: Sulzberger's obituary appeared the following day along with an essay by editorial-page editor John Oakes who was the first cousin to Sulzberger's widow, Iphigene Ochs, and son of George Ochs--the younger brother of Adolph Ochs. His family changed their name from Ochs to Oakes during World War I due to their dislike toward Germans.
• April 29, 1968: Assistant managing editor A.M Rosenthal attends the opening of the Broadway play "Hair." After the performance, he learns a group of Columbia University students staged a sit-in at the school and police were planning to make arrests later that evening. Rosenthal witnesses first hand the violence that unfolds when police storm the campus building. He becomes so enraged at the demonstrators, the violence they incited, and the damaged caused to the buildings, that he writes an impassioned account of the night's events, which appeared May 1, 1968, on page one.
  
  Note: According to Harrison E. Salisbury, former editor at The Times and author of "Without Fear or Favor: An Uncompromising Look at The New York Times," Rosenthal paid a price for letting his emotions get the better of him. The Times top executives, for one, were upset with him for pushing his story onto page one; the publisher of the paper, Punch, had to contend with a group of picketers in front of his Fifth Avenue apartment; and Rosenthal himself would be thought of as a "right-winger" -- a label, Salisbury maintains--particularly among the youth--that would remain with him throughout his career.
• January 14, 1969: The New York Times goes public. The issue opens for $42 a share on the American Stock Exchange.
• September 21, 1970: The Op-Ed section makes its debut opposite the editorial page, moving the obituary page to another section of the paper.
  
  Note: The name Op-Ed (opinion-editorial) was derived from a page in the New York World called Op-Ed under the direction of Herbert Bayard Swope, who organized a collection of columns by staff writers. In addition, The Chicago Tribune featured opinion pieces as far back as 1912. The Times, however, at the suggestion of John Oakes, was the first to seek outside writing contributions from persons with expertise in different fields from all walks of life. The first editor of the page was Harrison E. Salisbury.
• June 13, 1971: The Times published the first in a series of articles by Neal Sheehan, Hedrick Smith, E.W. Kenworthy and Fox Butterfield that disclosed the contents of a government report commissioned by the Defense Department, which was highly critical of the U.S. government's role in the Vietnam War particularly to the extent to which it distorted its role to the American public. The guts of the classified material were passed on to The Times through the photocopying efforts of Daniel Ellsberg, a military analyst, who over time grew disillusioned with the war.
  
  Note: Shortly after publishing the Pentagon Papers, the Justice Department blocked further publication through an order from the United States district court. The Supreme Court subsequently overturned that ruling by a 6 to 3 vote and on July 1, 1971, The Times resumed publishing its contents.
• 1972: The Times discontinue using the word Negro when referring to African Americans after managing editor A.M. Rosenthal criticized a copy editor for taking out a reporter's use of black and replacing it with Negro.
  
  Rosenthal wrote: "The decision as to whether to use black or Negro should be made by the reporter writing the story. The reason is that there are many subtleties and the reporter is best qualified to decide which usage is the proper one given the context of the story and people about whom he was writing."
• June 2, 1972: The Times begins publishing a "Correction" box directly under the news summary and index for stories previously reported with factual errors.
• November 14, 1972: The Times report on the first computerized installation of The New York Times Information Bank, which allows researchers, students, and faculty at the University of Pittsburgh to access abstracts and articles previously published by the paper. This experimental hook-up marks the first time New York Times articles became accessible electronically to the outside public.
• January 31, 1973: The Times report on the hiring of President Richard Nixon's speech writer, William Safire, who will begin writing a twice-a-week column on the Op-Ed page from Washington D.C.
• July 29, 1974: The Times along with the New York Daily News embrace the information revolution when settling on a new contract with members of the Typographical Union No 6, which eliminates the union's handcraft as computers and electronic typesetting machines are introduced. In exchange for agreeing to the deal, the union is guaranteed lifetime job security, including a buy-out package if they opt for early retirement. The story ran on page one. An analysis of the agreement on the inside pages carried the headline: "City Papers on Threshold of Future As Result of 11-Year Automation Pact."
  
  Note: Within two months of this landmark contract, The Times London and Washington Bureau's begin filing stories electronically.
• December 22, 1974: Perhaps the most critical assessment of the CIA up to this point, splashed across page one of The Times when it reported how they illegally targeted anti-war demonstrators and other dissident groups (including at least one member of Congress) during the Nixon administration, compiling as many as 10,000 dossiers on persons suspected of being opposed to government policies and placing them under surveillance. The story also uncovered how the agency beginning as early as the 1950's engaged in a number of illegal crusades in order to root out foreign agents suspected of operating within the U.S.--using wiretaps, opening mail without the recipient's knowledge, and randomly breaking into homes--activity clearly outside their jurisdiction and prohibited by law.
  
  Note: As a result of Seymour M. Hersh's exclusive, Congress places the question of CIA acting as a "shadow government" on the top of their agenda including stepped up efforts to impose oversight requirements.
• July 12, 1975: The New York Times publish a feature on a new dance growing in popularity called the "Hustle", the forerunner to disco--the dance craze that would sweep the country off its feet in 1976 and 1977. The story is accompanied with a step-by-step dance illustration. A sentence from the article reads: "Whether it is part of nostalgia craze or a turning point in the history of popular dancing, it seems that the hustle will be around for a while."
  
  Note: The hustle and the early stages of disco were thought to have been taken from similar dances performed at black and Puerto Rican bars in Queens around 1970 and later at underground gay clubs like the Sancutary in New York's Hell's Kitchen, The Tenth Floor on W.33rd St, and Le Jardin's inside the Diplomat Hotel on W. 43rd Street. The opening of Infinity (633 Broadway) in 1975, however, brought disco out from the underground and into the mainstream, attracting a diverse mix of uptown, downtown, gay, and straight dancers.
  
  A couple of related notes: One of the first articles to observe disco as a "spreading social phenomenon" appeared in Rolling Stone Magazine on September 13, 1973, and the 1977 motion picture "Saturday Night Fever", which propelled disco to new heights was loosely based on Nik Cohn's New York Magazine cover story ("Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night") published June 7, 1976.
• August 18, 1975: The New York Times report classified advertisements have been automated replacing the linotype machines and "hot type", allowing ads to be searched faster on a computer and then sorted automatically (alphabetized, arranged by size) using a photocomposition machine.
  
  Note: Linotype machines used in the composition rooms of newspapers produced lines of words on single strips of metal for casting type. Ottmar Mergenthaler invented the machine in 1884. The New York Tribune was the first paper to use the linotype machines for its July 3, 1886 issue.
• February 2, 1976: The Times publishes a book review of their new style manual: "The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage," which hadn't been updated since 1962. The book reveals for the first time the paper's policies on datelines and the importance of protecting the anonymity of news sources. Reflecting the rise of feminism, the manual notes changes in how women should be addressed but refuses to accept the words "chairwoman," "chairperson", "spokeswoman" and "Ms." as acceptable usage.
• February 19, 1976: The New York Times report on the paper's alliance with the Harris Corporation of Cleveland to computerize the editorial department in two phases: the first video terminals will replace typewriters by May 1 with the remaining likely to be up and running by the middle of 1977.
  
  Note: The first editorial system computerized was the Today newspaper in Cocoa Fla. in 1970.
• April 6, 1976: The Times announces the Sunday and news departments will be brought under the immediate control of A.M. Rosenthal, the managing editor. The story also announced the appointment of Max Frankel as the new editorial-page editor effective January of the following year replacing John Oakes, who would assume the position of senior editor as an op-ed columnist.
• April 30, 1976: The Times begins publishing a four-section daily newspaper, including the launching of the Friday Weekend section.
• September 12, 1976: The redesigned Arts & Entertainment section debuts.
• October 2, 1976: The Times begin publishing the Weekly News Quiz.
• November 10, 1976: The Living Section is introduced, comprising restaurant reviews, cooking columns, home furnishings, consumer issues, such as personal health and finance, as well as arts and entertainment features.
• March 17, 1977: The Home section debuts.
• December 25, 1977: The Times examines the CIA's relationship with the press chronicling how the CIA shapes public opinion by having agents disguised as accredited journalists within newspapers and major news services (mostly overseas) who, in their reporting, orchestrate propaganda campaigns against foreign countries with the hope these occasional false reports and blatant inaccuracies get disseminated through American news outlets.
  
  Note: In the October 20, 1977 issue of Rolling Stone magazine, Carl Bernstein disclosed Times' reporter Cy Sulzberger in his early years as a foreign correspondent, cooperated with the CIA by sharing information on certain sources in order to gain access to classified material. In fact, one memo shows Sulzberger was regarded as an "active asset by the agency"; even The Times itself, according to the magazine article, provided a cover for 10 CIA operatives from 1950 to 1966. The story further claimed the publisher of the paper at the time, Arthur Hays Sulzberger, the uncle of Cy Sulzberger, had signed a "nondisclosure" statement with the agency, which was an agreement not to reveal the source of their information. The Times denied the allegations. A libel suit was never brought against Bernstein or the magazine.
• January 1, 1978: Cy Sulzberger retires from The Times. An editorial applauding his career is published under the headline: "Reporter Extraordinary."
• January 9, 1978: Sports Monday is introduced.
  
  Note: Beginning September 14, 1986, the Sunday Sports section was redesigned to accommodate additional stats and features.
• May 17, 1978: Business Day debuts.
• July 1, 1978: The Times converts to cold type, completing the computerization of the newsroom.
• November 14, 1978: Science Times is introduced as a new section.
• July 23, 1979: Walter Mattson assumes the title of chief operating officer--a move intended to bring increased organization to the corporate side of the paper.
• January 20, 1980: In a Sunday Magazine cover story, metropolitan editor Sydney Schanberg writes of his experiences as a foreign correspondent during the Cambodian civil war between 1973 and 1979, describing the friendship formed with his assistant Dith Pran and recounting grim tales of the one to three million people who were either massacred, uprooted from their homeland, or starved to death at the hands of the Khmer Rouge in the so called "Peasant Revolution". Pran, presumed dead since 1975 when he was captured, thrown into a slave labor camp and tortured, eventually escaped and reunited with Schanberg on October 9, 1979 at a Thai refugee camp. The article formed the basis of the 1984 motion picture "The Killing Fields" starring Sam Waterson and Dr. Haing S. Ngor.
  
  Schanberg was awarded a Pulitzer Prize (May 3, 1976) for his dispatch (May 9, 1975) on the inhumanity, bordering on genocide, inflicted upon millions of fleeing Cambodians by Communists who invaded Phnom Penh on April 17th, 1975. He eventually fell out of favor with The Times over his op-ed piece (July 27, 1985) involving a proposed underground highway, known as the Westway Project, in which he attacked "New York newspapers" (meaning, The Times) for failing to adequately report on the billions worth of overruns the project was costing.
  
  The New York State Department of Transportation proposed filling 200 acres of the Hudson River shoreline with a section of the federal interstate highway between W. 34th Street and Battery Park City so that additional luxury high rise apartments could be built. Schanberg considered the project a scandal and a gross "misuse of scarce public funds". The Times didn't share his sentiments. According to Edwin Diamond, author of "Behind the Times", the publisher of The Times, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., was a "Westway enthusiast." Schanberg left The Times and joined New York Newsday as a columnist in 1986 when attempts were made to have him re-assigned.
  
  Note: After a string of legal battles between the state and environmental groups concerned about the potential danger such a project would cause to the Hudson, the U.S. House of Representatives, on September 11, 1985, voted to withdraw funding for the Westway project. The money was instead redirected into upgrading New York's subway system in the early 1990's.
• April 18, 1980: The Times launch a national edition calling for the paper to be printed from other plants throughout the U.S.
• March 13, 1981: One of the first Times articles to notice rap music as an enduring genre that extends beyond predominantly black New York City neighborhoods is published in the review of The Sugar Hill Band who headlined at the Ritz along with a gathering of other rappers, including Grand Master Flash, the Fabulous Five, and the Funky 4 Plus 1.
  
  The reviewer observed: "Rapping is probably familiar to most New Yorkers as an intrusive noise on the subway or in the park--the noise that comes out of blaring cassette players and portable radios. But as the Ritz showed demonstrated, rapping has a much broader appeal than one might have anticipated."
  
  Note: Rap music took root in the South Bronx and Harlem neighborhoods around 1973 when it was first referred to as "break-beat music", in which percussive portions of records were danced at private house parties. By 1976, deejays began scratching records clockwise and then counterclockwise ("back-queuing a record") on live sound systems. This technique soon became a staple of rap recordings, attributing to its growing popularity. A few of the early venues that gave rise to rap were at the Hevalo, the Black Door, the Bronx River Community Center, and the Audubon ballroom. As rap's reputation spread, clubs like the Peppermint Lounge, the Mudd Club, Negril, Danceteria, and the Roxy absorbed the larger crowds. The first two rap recordings were "King Tim III (Personality Jock)" by the Fatback Band and "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugar Hill Band, both were released in 1979.
• July 3, 1981: The first Times article about the AIDS disease was reported by Lawrence Altman, carrying the headline: "Rare Cancer Seen in 41 Homosexuals." The story ran on page A-20.
  
  Note: Another early article about the disease appeared in The Wall Street Journal on December 10, 1981, by Jerry Bishop, which documented how the Federal Center for Disease Control reported 74 patients, mostly homosexuals and drug users, died from an apparent defect in their immune systems. The findings were largely based on a series of articles from the New England Journal of Medicine (December 10, 1981 Volume 305 Number 24). The first New York Times article to define AIDS was on August 8, 1982, under the headline: "A Disease's Spread Provokes Anxiety."
• September 28, 1981: The Times report on their new online computerized system, which allows for full-text searching of articles dating back to June 1, 1980. Each item will contain a brief description of its contents. Also listed will be the page and column number including whether the article is accompanied with a graph, photo, or map.
  
  As part of the new system, The Times introduces two techniques for finding articles: "free-text" and "controlled" searching. Free text searching involves finding an article using words or phrases contained within the article. Controlled searching is retrieving articles through a subject and geographic directory.
• March 4, 1983: The Times introduces an "Editor's Note" positioned under the "Correction Box" for stories that were factually correct but may have been misleading and unclear requiring clarification.
• February 6, 1983: Lexis Nexis announce they will make full-text articles of New York Times available to subscribers, 24 hours after publication. The full-text archive extends back to June 1, 1980. Articles in abstract form are accessible from January 1, 1969 through June 1, 1980.
  
  Note: Beginning in November of 1979, full-text articles of the Washington Post, U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek, the Economist, the Associated Press, and Reuters were made available through Lexis Nexis. In 1978, The Toronto Globe and Mail, was the first newspaper worldwide to offer full-text access to its editorial content through a commercial database: The Globe and Mail.
• December 10, 1983: The Times for the first time names a same-sex partner in the obituary of actor David Rounds.
• June 20, 1986: In an Editor's Note, The Times acknowledge the term "Ms." had become common usage and accordingly will be adopted as an honorific in news columns and when an identity of a woman is unknown. Executive editor A.M. Rosenthal ordered the change.
  
  Note: Joseph C. Goulden, in his book "Fit To Print: A.M. Rosenthal And His Times" wrote that when Gloria Steinem was alerted to The Times policy change, she immediately sent Rosenthal flowers along with a thank-you note compliments of the Ms Magazine staff.
• October 12, 1986: The Times report executive editor A.M. Rosenthal was stepping down from the post. Editorial page editor Max Frankel was named his successor beginning November 1. The story also announced Arthur Gelb was appointed managing editor and Jack Rosenthal would assume Frankel's position as editor of the editorial page.
  
  Note: A.M. Rosenthal became a full-time Op-Ed columnist on January 6, 1987.
• October 30, 1990: In celebration of the Op-Ed page's 20th anniversary, a collage of memorable essays and illustrations are reproduced in a special section.
• April 17, 1991: The Times reveals the identity of the alleged rape victim in a cause célèbre, when Sen. Ted Kennedy's nephew, William Kennedy Smith, is accused of raping Patricia Bowman in Palm Beach Fla.
• April 21, 1991: Anna Quindlen, an op-ed columnist, put her job on the line when she criticized The Times for their coverage of Patricia Bowman, the woman who accused William Kennedy Smith of rape. The paper's profile on Bowman suggested her poor driving record and sexual history, which was described as a "wild streak," cast a shadow over the validity of her charge. Quindlen accused her own papers' editors of sexism and of falling below their normal high standards when they identified her simply because of the prestige attached to the Kennedy name and because another media competitor, NBC, already revealed her identity. Quindlen never mentions Bowman's name.
  
  Note: Susan E. Tifft and Alex S. Jones in "The Trust: The Private and Powerful Family Behind The New York Times" wrote that when Quindlen passed Arthur Sulzberger Jr. in the hallway after her column appeared, he put his arm around her and said "That was a good column yesterday."
  
  The Times, in fact, revealed the identity of an alleged rape victim on another occasion, when on December 23, 1959, they report Laura Haines, the daughter of playwright and novelist William Wister Haines, was beaten by a cab driver who tried to rape her near La Guardia Airport.
• April 26, 1991: The Times under an Editors Note, offer a clarification concerning their April 17th biographical sketch of Patricia Bowman, stating they didn't mean to imply they were questioning her character or the legitimacy of the rape charges.
  
  Note: The Editor's Note referred readers to a page A14 article, which chronicles challenges news organizations face when reporting on rape victims.
• January 16, 1992: Arthur Sulzberger Jr. is named the new publisher of The Times.
• April 28, 1992: The New York Times report on the launching of a Russian language edition of the paper (the first foreign-language edition in the paper's history) in a joint venture with The Moscow News beginning in early 1993. It's slated to be a bi-weekly publication called "News in Review", consisting of 16 to 24 pages of articles and editorials previously published from The Times.
  
  Note: "News in Review" was discontinued in February of 1994.
• May 3, 1992: "Styles of The Times" debuts.
  
  Note: On June 26, 1994, "Style of The Times" reduced its space and moved to the back of the Metro Section. On October 12, 1997, it re-emerged as a separate color section renamed "Sunday Styles," although it was available only to subscribers in the northeast. On September 30, 2001, it was incorporated into the national edition as a freestanding section.
• June 21, 1992: Robert Coover, a novelist, in an article for The Times Book Review entitled: "The End of Books" wrote that books were in danger of being replaced by a new technology--hypertext--where all print publications eventually will be converted into this digitized language and be read on a computer screen.
• June 28, 1992: Forecasting the end of print newspapers as we know them, The Times profile Roger Fidler, director of new media technology at Knight- Ridder, who envisions the coming (in about 5 years) of an electronic newspaper, which will give readers access to selected stories using a "lightweight pen" from a computer screen at a nominal cost.
  
  Note: Senator Al Gore, while chairing the Senate subcommittee on science technology and space, advocated building a new nationwide network for storing computer information in a July 15, 1990 Washington Post article. Gore wrote that the network had the potential of reaching into homes and "providing anyone with a personal computer access to a whole universe of electronic information."
• September 11, 1992: Washington editor Howell Raines was named Jack Rosenthal's successor as editorial-page director. Rosenthal would assume the role of assistant managing editor and editor of The Sunday Magazine effective January 1, 1993.
• September 17, 1992: Lance Primis was appointed president of The New York Times, replacing Walter Mattson.
• June 10, 1993: The Times acquires The Boston Globe for 1.1 billion. The deal became official on the 13^th.
• September 6, 1993: Gerald Boyd, former metropolitan editor, assumes the title of assistant managing editor, making him the first African America to have his name appear on The Times masthead.
  
  Note: In the same year, Bob Herbert was named The Times first African America Op-Ed columnist and Margo Jefferson became the paper's first black arts critic.
• November 19, 1993: The New York Times report they will deliver published articles to customers using a facsimile service called TimesFax on a trial basis beginning in the spring.
  
  Note: TimesFax was created by The New York Times Company in January of 1990 for distribution of Times articles in the Far East. On September 10, 1990, it began producing a special military edition consisting of news and sport summaries, which were transmitted daily by fax to U.S. armed forces stationed in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War. TimesFax was re-named Times Digest in 2001.
• December 6, 1993: The New York Times Company and Dow Jones & Company agree to a deal that makes The Times news stories available on Dow Jones computer service, marking the first time the daily content of The Times becomes accessible to subscribers of an electronic news service on the same day of publication.
• April 8, 1994: The New York Times report Joe Lelyveld, current managing editor will succeed Max Frankel as executive editor on July 1. Eugene L. Roberts Jr., former Times national news editor, long time executive editor of The Philadelphia News, and current professor of journalism at the University of Maryland, was named Lelyveld's successor as new managing editor, making him the first top editor chosen outside the paper's ranks since 1904 when Carr V. Van Anda was hired as managing editor from the New York Sun.
  
  Note: On October 2, 1994, Frankel began writing a new column for The Sunday Magazine focusing on communication called "Word & Image".
• June 9, 1994: In a joint agreement, The New York Times and America Online begin offering AOL subscribers access to the paper's electronic database, with a main emphasis on arts and entertainment features.
• Note: In the spring of 1992, selected articles from The Chicago Tribune became accessible through AOL including an assortment of classified advertisements. The full-text of the Tribune, called Chicago Tribune Online, became available on AOL in early 1993.
• January 19, 1996: The New York Times Internet edition goes online, offering free access to current news stories.
  
  NOTE: The first news organizations to offer Internet editions were USA Today, which launched on April 17, 1995, followed by CNN on August 30, 1995.
• August 18, 1996: W. 43rd Street is re-named Adolph S. Ochs Street.
• September 21, 1996: The New York Times give readers a sense of the power struggles taking place within upper management when reporting on the resignation of Lance Primus as president and chief operating officer of the paper because he wasn't given assurances he would one day assume the duties of chief executive, a position that was currently held by Arthur Ochs Sulzberger. The story cited sources who speculate Sulzberger's refusal to give Primus any hope of succeeding him meant that title would eventually be filled by his son, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., the publisher of the paper. Russell T. Lewis, who had been president and general manager, replaced Primus. Janet L. Robinson, senior vice president for advertising, assumed the title of president and general manager.
• September 22, 1996: Arthur Sulzberger Jr. is named chairman of The Times.
• October 16, 1997: The first page one color photo appears in The Times.
  
  Note: The first color photo believed to have appeared on page one of a major newspaper was on October 21, 1959, when the Minneapolis Star ran an Associated Press color photo of the funeral of General C. Marshall. On June 8, 1939, AP transmitted a half-tone color picture of President Roosevelt and King George VI from the nation's capital.
• February 26, 1998: The New York Times introduces "Circuits", a new weekly section focusing on digital technology and how it affects every day users.
• November 4, 1999: A.M. Rosenthal, Op-Ed columnist for The Times since 1987, retires--completing a 55-year career as reporter, foreign correspondent, metropolitan editor, assistant managing editor, associated managing editor, managing editor, executive editor, and finally columnist. His final column appears the following day along with a biographical sketch by Clyde Haberman.
• May 21, 2001: The New York Times announce the naming of editorial page editor Howell Raines as the paper's new executive editor replacing Joseph Lelyveld who announced his retirement. The change takes effect in September.
• June 22, 2001: The Times publish the naming of Gail Collins as the new editorial page editor, making her the first woman in the paper's history to occupy such a position.
• June 25, 2001: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that a group of magazine and newspaper publishers were guilty of copyright infringement when individual articles written by freelancer writers became accessible through electronic databases without their consent. Jonathan Tasini, president of National Writers Union, filed the lawsuit.
  
  As a result of the ruling, The New York Times begins removing freelance articles from their electronic databases unless given permission to continue archiving them.
  
  Note: Newspaper publishers expressed disappointed with the decision, labeling it a "blow to the public interest in easy access to information" while representatives from an assortment of library groups praised the historic ruling, reminding everyone that unlike Lexis-Nexis, historical records of newspapers and magazines are still available in public libraries at no cost.
• July 26, 2001: The Times announce Gerald Boyd, assistant managing editor, will assume the title of managing editor beginning in September, succeeding Bill Keller who will become an op-ed columnist and senior writer for The Sunday Magazine.
• September 18, 2001: The Times is 150 years old.
  
  Their special anniversary edition originally scheduled for publication on September 20th, is put on hold due to the September 11th terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, where a group of terrorists linked to the Al Qaeda network headed by Osama bin Laden destroyed the Twin Towers on a suicide mission using commuter jets. Over 3000 people were killed not including the 184 lives lost at the Pentagon building in a similar airplane collision and another 40 victims on a hijacked plane that crashed in western Pennsylvania.
  
  Despite the attacks stunning the world, paralyzing New York City for days, including concerns of another attack just around the corner, Americans remained defiant--coming together in a show of patriotism not seen since World War II.
  
  A new section is launched on this day: "A Nation Challenged" devoted exclusively to terrorism in the U.S. and the anticipated war in Afghanistan. It's especially noted for presenting short tender biographical sketches of the victims lost at the World Trade Center.
  
  Note: The Times discontinued publishing "A Nation Challenged" as a separate section after the December 31, 2001 issue.
• October 23, 2001: The Times introduce an electronic (fee-based) version of their print edition at Newstand.com, where an exact replica of their metropolitan edition, including ads and photos can be downloaded and read on a desktop for seven days. The service is only accessible through broadband. A dial-up modem service was still being planned.
• November 14, 2001: The Times publish their 150th commemorative issue, nearly 2 months after its official anniversary (September 18). The 56-page supplement featured a timeline, an assortment of photographs from its archives, along with featured articles on the paper's history from staff writers, as well as past Times' writers, including Anna Quindlen, David Halberstam, and former executive editor Max Frankel.
•  April 8, 2002: The New York Times wins a record seven Pulitzer Prizes, six for their coverage of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, which included "A Nation Challenged", a daily special section that chronicled the consequences of September 11, and the perilous political and international landscape facing the United States in the new age of terrorism.
• February 21, 2002: Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, publisher of the New York Times from 1963 to 1992, retires from the board of the New York Times, a position he held since his election in 1959. The Times report that Sulzberger's daughter, Cathy J. Sulzberger, partner in the LHIW Real Estate Development Partnership, had been nominated to the 13-member board.
• April 5, 2002:  The New York Times introduce Escapes, a new weekly section that will be devoted to weekend pleasure trips, accompanied with maps and other travel columns.
• April 22, 2002: The New York Times and Discovery Channel agree to collaborate on a series of documentaries, to be hosted by Pulitzer winning columnist Thomas L. Friedman, beginning in 2003, focusing on world events, which will include interviews with political and social policy experts.
• August 17, 2002: Howell Raines, executive editor of The New York Times, recognizing a growing trend toward formal commitment ceremonies, announces that beginning next month, they will publish same sex "commitment ceremonies" and formal registration of gay and lesbian partnerships in the Sunday Styles section.
• August 27, 2002: John Steuart Wilson, the first popular music critic at the New York Times beginning in 1952, who wrote on the first rumblings of Rock n' Roll, as well as Latin and folk music; but was best remembered for capturing the echo of jazz that stirred the air at popular clubs like the Basin Street East and Cafe Society, died at a Princeton N.J. nursing home at age 89.
• October 22, 2002: The New York Times' announce they have bought the Washington Post's share of the International Herald Tribune for less than $75 million, a newspaper that was founded as The Paris Herald in 1887 by James Gordon Bennett, publisher of the New York Herald, ending the two companies split ownership of the Tribune that dated from 1991.
• Beginning on January 2, 2003, the Herald Tribune appears for the first time under the sole ownership of the New York Times.
  
  Note: In 1934, Bennett's Herald acquired the Paris edition of The Chicago Tribune; the following year, "Tribune" was added to its name. After the Herald Tribune folded in 1966, the Washington Post and New York Times each acquired one-third of the newspaper from Whitney Communications; and in 1991, they became co-owners when they bought out the Whitney shares.
• February 25, 2003: The New York Times reports that a DNA story originally published on May 16, 1953, about encoding and transmission of genes ("Form of 'Life Unit' in Cell Is Scanned."), a pioneering breakthrough at the time, based on findings first reported in the journal Nature by Francis Crick and Dr. James D. Watson, could not be found in the Times' database, the only logical explanation for its omission was that more than likely it ran its early edition only, and was pulled in later editions in favor of more pressing news.
• March 3, 2003: Associate managing editor, Nicholas D. Kristof, 43, who first joined the New York Times in 1984, holding a number of positions, among them, bureau chief in Hong Kong, Beijing and Tokyo, is appointed op-ed columnist by Arthur Sulzberger Jr., publisher of the Times, and Gail Collins, editorial page editor.
• March 19, 2003: The Times' report with the war in Iraq looming, many news organizations, including the Times, are instructing employees to leave Baghdad, and would rely on wire services for their coverage, according to Catherine Mathis, a spokeswoman for the newspaper.
• May 1, 2003: Executive editor of the Times', Howell Raines, announces that Times reporter Jayson Blair resigned from the company after allegations surfaced over whether he lifted passages from a story originally published by the San Antonio Express-News.
  
  In an Editor's Note, the paper wrote: "The Times regrets this breach of journalistic standards."
• On May 11th, the Times publishes a 7102 word article ("Correcting the Record"), chronicling the journalistic crimes committed by Blair, which included false datelines, fabricated quotes, and outright plagiarism in at least 36 stories, spanning a six-month period.
• May 14, 2003: The New York Times senior management team holds a town meeting to answer questions from staff members about the journalistic fraud committed by Blair, how it could have happened in the first place, what steps were being taken to restore the sunken morale of the newsroom, and how it planned to repair the damage the scandal had inflicted on the Times as an institution.
  
  Raines, the executive editor, fielded a battery of tough questioning, the most bruising coming from business reporter Alex Berenson, who wondered whether he would resign. The publisher of the Times, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., was quick to defend his executive editor, saying "he would not accept Mr. Raines's resignation even if offered."
• May 28, 2003: Rick Bragg, Pulitzer Prize winning columnist based in the South, turns in his resignation, five days after the paper published an "editors note" explaining he had relied heavily on the work from free lance writer, J. Wes Yoder, in his report about oystermen of the Florida Gulf Coast (June 15, 2002) without properly attributing the free lancer, delivering yet another ethical blow to the Times still reeling from the Jayson Blair scandal.
• June 5, 2003: Executive editor Howell Raines and managing editor Gerald M. Boyd stand in the middle of the 3rd floor newsroom to announce their resignation, a move that despite the cordial facade, was in reality a firing of the newsrooms two senior managers as pressure mounted on the publisher of the paper, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., to restore the morale of the newsroom badly shaken by the ethical breaches committed first by Jayson Blair and then Rick Bragg.
  
  While the paper planned to accelerate their search for a replacement, Joseph Lelyveld, the former executive editor, agreed to come out retirement and take control of the newsroom.
• July 14, 2003: Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr., announces that Bill Keller, the senior magazine writer, a former managing editor, and a Pulitzer Prize recipient for international reporting in 1989, had been appointed executive editor of the Times', effective July 30th.
• July 24, 2003: David Brooks, former editor of the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal, a contributing editor at Newsweek and The Atlantic Monthly, was named the newest addition to the Times' op-ed page.
  
  His first column was scheduled to appear in September.
• July 26, 2003: Harold C. Schonberg, chief music critic for the Times from 1960 to 1980, who rose to prominence when he became the first music writer to claim a Pulitzer Prize in 1971 for his critical reviews on classical music and opera, died at St. Luke's Hospital in Manhattan at age 87.
  
  Schonberg first landed at the doorstep at the Times in 1950, becoming record editor in 1955, before replacing Howard Taubman as chief music critic in 1960.
• July 31, 2003: Bill Keller, fresh from assuming the executive editor duties, announces for the first time in the paper's history, it will have two senior managing editors, with the appointment of Jill Abramson, the Washington bureau chief, as the new managing editor of news gathering, and John M. Geddes, the Times' deputy managing editor, becoming managing editor for news operations, with an emphasis on production, budgeting, and staffing.
  
  In an effort to rebuild the public trust in the aftermath of the Jayson Blair scandal, Keller also announces he will appoint a public editor, another first for the Times, in the coming weeks.
• October 21, 2003: The Times introduces a new typeface to its page one, when it begins using Times Cheltenham, adding thickness to the headlines, while eliminating Latin Extra Condensed, News Gothic, Bookman Antique, and Century Bold Italics. But the Times did not part company with the Cheltenham Bold Italic, the font that was created in 1896 by the Cheltenham Press, a private publisher in New York City, and first appeared on Times' front page in 1906. In addition, the text typeface, Imperial, which has been parked on Times' pages since 1967 was left untouched.
• October 27, 2003: Reacting to the 25 journalist committee's recommendations, commissioned shortly after the Jayson Blair scandal, Daniel Okrent, 55, former managing editor of Life and editor of Time Inc.'s new media operations, is named public editor of the New York Times by executive editor Bill Keller. Okrent's tenure as ombudsmen becomes effective December 1 and will last for 18 months.
  
  As the Times first public editor, Okrent will respond to readers complaints and concerns of the Times coverage without interference from the senior management structure or the editorial board of the paper; his commentaries will be published in the Sunday Week in Review section, and other days as he deems it necessary.
  
  Note: The first newspaper to appoint a public editor was The Courier-Journal and The Louisville Times in 1967. In 2006, there are approximately 40 newspapers that have public editors or ombudsmen.
• November 21, 2003: The Pulitzer board decides against stripping Walter Duranty of The New York Times of the Pulitzer he earned in 1932 for his series of articles about the Soviet Union, despite waves of protests from Ukrainians and other historians, who claimed his reporting accommodated the Soviet propaganda machine of Josef Stalin, and most egregious of all--failed to report the famine of 1932-33, which resulted in the death of several million Ukrainians.
  
  While the board did acknowledge that Duranty's reporting failed to live up to the standards of today's international reporting, there was "no clear and convincing evidence of deliberate deception."
• February 19, 2004: Russell T. Lewis, announces he is retiring as president and chief executive of the New York Times at the end of the year, a position he held since 1997; and will be succeeded by Janet L. Robinson, senior vice president for newspaper operations.
  
  Lewis career at the Times was launched in 1966 as a copy boy; he was later elevated to news assistant and reporter; he left the Times for a short time, earning a law degree from the Brooklyn Law School (1973) and practicing at the law firm of Cahill, Gordon & Reindel in New York City.
  
  When he returned to the Times in 1977, he worked in the paper's legal department as staff lawyer before becoming vice president and deputy general manager in 1992, president and general manager the following year, and president in 1996.
• August 12, 2004: Times' reporter Judith Miller is subpoenaed by a Washington grand jury investigating whether any senior administration official intentionally leaked the identify of CIA operative, Valerie Plame, to syndicated columnist Robert D. Novak, when her name first appeared in his July 14, 2003 column. It's considered a felony for a high ranking administration official to leak such sensitive information.
  
  Miller became a target of the grand jury investigation when prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald learned Plame's name came up in conversations I. Lewis Libby, Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, had with Miller, along with four other reporters: Time Magazine reporter Matthew Cooper, Meet the Press host Tim Russert, and Washington Post reporters, Walter Pincus and Glenn Kessler.
• October 1, 2004: The Times' introduces a new correction policy on page A2, when it begins classifying corrections under two groupings: "Corrections" which will clarify factual errors that have clouded the readers understanding of a news topic; and "For the Record, which are narrow corrections, such as grammatical errors, misspellings, and historical dates of reference.
• November 15, 2004: The Times' announce that William Safire, 74, Richard Nixon's former speech writer, will write his final op-ed column on January 24, 2005, after 32 years, but will continue contributing his "On Language" column for the Sunday Magazine, which he has done since 1979.
• January 1, 2005: A new masthead is introduced on the editorial page, which will list management positions by "News Sections", "The Opinion Pages," and "The Business Management." in an effort to make clear to readers these are separate divisions with each department head responsible for reporting to the publisher.
• February 15, 2005: A federal appeals court in Washington rules that Times reporter Judith Miller and Matthew Cooper, of Time magazine, should be jailed for contempt of court for refusing to identify their sources on who identified Valerie Plame as "an agency operative on weapons of mass destruction"; their ruling shoots down the contention that reporters are shielded by the First Amendment, because, the court contends, these reporters may have witnessed a federal crime, and they backed up their ruling citing a precedent, Branzburg v. Hayes, a 1972 Supreme Court case, in which a reporter was ordered to testify after witnessing the production of illegal drugs.
  
  Responding to the ruling through a prepared statement, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., publisher of the New York Times, said: "The Times will continue to fight for the ability of journalists to provide the people of this nation with the essential information they need to evaluate issues affecting our country and the world, and we will challenge today's decision and advocate for a federal shield law that will enable the public to continue to learn about matters that directly affect their lives."
  
  Note: Miller was sentenced to jail on July 6, 2005, by a federal judge for "defying the law" for refusing to name a confidential source.
• March 1, 2005: John Tierney, 51, a New York Times Sunday Magazine columnist, who first started as general assignment reporter in 1990, is named op-ed columnist; his columns will appear twice weekly beginning in April.
• March 10, 2005: The New York Times announce that former Times theater critic Frank Rich, beginning in April, will move from the Arts & Living section to the Sunday op-ed page and write mammoth style essays on popular culture, twice the length of the traditional op-ed columns- when the Week in Review op-ed section is expanded into two pages.
  
  In a challenging move by executive editor Bill Keller and editorial page editor Gail Collins, the announcement (April 11) of the expanded section led to some spirited anger from loyal readers, when it was learned Maureen Dowd and Thomas L. Friedman, the section's two biggest boppers, would be penciled out of the Sunday lineup.
• April 14, 2005: Representatives of the New York Times, a minority partner of the Boston Red Sox, which owns 17 percent of the team, who finally laid to rest the "Curse of the Bambino," were given World Series rings by the New York Yankees' chief rival at a ceremony at Fenway Park.
  
  Russell T. Lewis, recently retired president of the Times, was one of 4 Times' representatives on hand to receive the rings.
• May 9, 2005: The internal committee appointed by executive editor Bill Keller to examine how the Times could regain readers trust, makes their findings available on the Times' company website at www.nytco.com.
  
  Among the committee's recommendations: The Times should expand their coverage of religion in America, increase their coverage of cultural and lifestyle issues, cut down on their use of anonymous sources, and make reporters, editors, and other staff members more accessible to the outside public through emails.
• May 16, 2005: The New York Times announce a new fee-based feature on their website, TimesSelect, which will charge users $49.95 a year to read op-ed columnists, reports from the International Herald Tribune, and other features, including gaining access to the Times online archives. Most of the material on the website, the company emphasized, would remain free of charge.
• May 22, 2005: Daniel Okrent writes his final column as public editor of the New York Times, and passes the baton to Byron Calame who begins his tenure on June 5th.
• May 25, 2005: Responding to the economic reality of declining readership, sagging advertising revenue, and the high cost of newspaper print, the Times announces it will eliminate 190 jobs, 130 at the Times, including approximately 20 editorial positions, the rest will come from its flagship newspaper, The Worcester Telegram & Gazette, and the Boston Globe.
  
  Bill Keller, the executive editor, also announced buyout packages would be offered to a limited number of the editorial staff.
• September 29, 2005: Judith Miller leaves prison after nearly three months when her confidential source, believed to be I. Lewis Libby, came forward and released her from their bond of confidentiality, encouraging her to testify before a federal grand jury about whether a senior White House official leaked the identity of a CIA operative. "Oh boy, am I happy to be free and finally able to talk to all of you", Miller told reporters after her testimony outside a federal courthouse in Washington.
• October 25, 2005: "I've always liked Judy Miller" Maureen Dowd's much discussed opening lead paragraph in which she tears into Judith Miller, questioning her credibility as a journalist by acting as a pawn for the Bush administration's "Weapons of Mass Destruction" propaganda; and then for not coming clean to her editors about her role in the Valerie Plame leak case.
  
  Dowd ended her column suggesting the Times' integrity as an institution would be seriously comprised if Judy "Run Amok", should ever step foot in the Times newsroom again.
• November 9, 2005: Judith Miller, a New York Times reporter for 28 years, agrees to resign from the paper after a couple tough weeks of negotiations with top editors over her proper exit strategy. She was initially denied by editors to be allowed to write an essay on the op-ed page, challenging some of the criticism she received from staff members over the past weeks. But the paper did agree to publish a letter she wrote to the editor explaining her position. In her letter, titled "Judith Miller's Farwell" she said she had chosen to resign "because over the last few months, I have become the news, something a New York Times reporter never wants to be."
• December 16, 2005: Times reporters James Risen and Eric Lichtblau disclose for the first time that just days after the September 11 attacks, President Bush, without seeking court approved warrants, authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans suspected of terrorist activity.
  
  This alarming disclosure sparked a spirited debate over how much power a President should be allowed to have in order to fight terrorism.
  
  As a result of this chilling expose, Risen and Lichtblau were awarded with Pulitzers in the category of National Reporting on April 17th, 2006.
• January 26, 2006: Executive editor Bill Keller names Joe Sexton The Times's new metropolitan editor, replacing Susan Edgerley, who was named assistant managing editor.
• April 3, 2006: The New York Times announces a major redesign of its Web site NYTimes.com, including a newly designed home page and section front pages; new ways to personalize the site; enhanced search capability; and more original video.
• May 10, 2006: Pulitzer Prize winning A.M Rosenthal, a former op-ed page columnist, and the pioneering executive editor of the New York Times from 1977 to 1986, who spoke with a sharp tongue, ruled with an iron fist, but was largely credited with giving the Times a much needed facelift during a crucial phase of its illustrious history, died in Manhattan, at age 84.
• July 1, 2006: Executive editor Bill Keller and L.A. Times executive editor Dean Baquet write an op-ed piece explaining their reasons for disclosing a secret government program to monitor international banking transactions. http://nyti.ms/arCS8x
• September 7, 2006: The New York Times launches a mobile Web site, allowing readers to access New York Times content from their mobile phones.
• October 13, 2006: Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. names Andrew Rosenthal the newspaper’s new editorial page editor. Mr. Rosenthal, son of the late A. M. Rosenthal, a former executive editor of The Times, replaces Gail Collins, who will begin a new column on the Times’ Op-Ed page after her return from a leave of absence to write a book.
• May 3, 2007: Clark Hoyt, a 1973 Pulitzer recipient for national reporting, and a former Washington editor at Knight Ridder is named The Times’s third public editor since the position was first created in 2003. Mr. Hoyt’s responsibilities take effect May 14th and last for two years. His tenure is later extended an additional year to end in June 2010.
• September 17, 2007: The Times announces that after two years, TimesSelect, a fee-based program, which charged online subscribers $49.95 a year for access to The Times’s columnists and newspaper archives was ending, making access free, once again, to all visitors to its Website.
  
  TimesSelect attracted 227,000 paying subscribers and generated $10 million in annual revenue, but the company believed potential ad revenue from increased traffic on a free site would be more beneficial.
• November 19, 2007: The New York Times Company officially opens its new building, a dazzling 52-story tower located at 620 Eighth Avenue during a gala celebration, hosted by Arthur Sulzberger Jr., chairman of the Times Company and Bruce Ratner, chairman of Forest City Ratner Companies with Senator Chuck Schumer, Governor Eliot Spitzer, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg in attendance.
  
  The New York Times Building, co-owned by the Times Company and Forest City Ratner Companies, was designed by Pritzker Prize–winning architect Renzo Piano in association with FXFOWLE Architects.
• December 29, 2007: The Times announces William Kristol, editor and co-founder of The Weekly Standard, a conservative political magazine, will write a weekly column for the Times beginning January 7th.
  
  NOTE: On January 26, 2009, the Times and Mr. Kristol mutually agreed to end their relationship after little more than a year.
• February 14, 2008: Executive editor Bill Keller announces The Times will eliminate 100 of its 1,332 newsroom employees in 2008 through buyouts and layoffs if necessary, if not enough employees accept the buyout package.
• July 10, 2008: The New York Times announces the release of the NYTimes iPhone application, which gives readers offline reading capabilities of their favorite New York Times stories.
• September 5, 2008: In an effort to save money on production costs, The Times announces beginning October 6th, they will eliminate the Metro report and Sports as stand alone sections. Metro will move inside the newspaper’s A section, while the Sports section (on Tuesday through Friday) will slip inside the Business Day section. Sports will remain a separate section on the weekends and on Mondays.
• September 26, 2008:  NYTimes.com hosts live streaming video of the 2008 presidential debate -- its first live video feed on the homepage.
• October 13, 2008: Paul Krugman, an economics professor at Princeton and Op-Ed columnist for The Times since 1999, is awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science for his insightful analysis of trade patterns and location of economic activity, research that Mr. Krugman began in 1979.
• March 30, 2009:  The International Herald Tribune, the global edition of The New York Times, joins forces with The New York Times on the Web to create a new online Global Edition, which combines the international voice of the IHT with the worldwide breadth of reporting of The Times and the digital expertise of NYTimes.com.
• May 24, 2009: The Times launches Metropolitan, a new section in its Sunday edition.  The section, which includes narrative profiles, reported essays and innovative storytelling about New York and its suburbs, will replace The City section and the New Jersey, Connecticut, Westchester and Long Island sections, which were eliminated to cut costs, as well as the New York report pages in the main news section.
• April 20, 2009: The Times wins five Pulitzer Prizes, the second most in its history for breaking news, investigative reporting, international reporting, criticism, and feature photography, giving The Times a total of 101 Pulitzers since journalism’s top prize was first awarded in 1917.
  
  The Times previously won seven Pulitzers in 2002, the most by any newspaper.
• June 19, 2009: Times reporter David Rohde, abducted outside Kabul, Afghanistan, on Nov. 10 while researching a book, escapes from the clutches of the Taliban after seven months of captivity in the mountains of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
  
  NOTE: Beginning October 18, 2009, Mr. Rohde begins the first of a five-part series of a first-person account of his seven months of captivity in Pakistan.
  http://nyti.ms/9Yhj0h 
• August 5, 2009: Sam Sifton, the Times Culture editor since 2005 is named the newspaper’s new restaurant critic, replacing Frank Bruni, who will begin writing for The Times’s Sunday Magazine
• September 15, 2009: Bill Keller, the executive editor, named Jonathan Landman, the deputy managing editor, The Times new culture editor, a position he briefly held on an interim basis in 2004 and 2005, while reorganizing the department.
• October 15, 2009: The New York Times announces an expanded Bay Area metro report with added pages of local content on Fridays and Sundays in the San Francisco area.  This expanded local report is the first of several to take place in key markets across the United States, and designed to complement the national and global coverage that has made The Times a popular news provider in the region.
• January 20, 2010: The New York Times announces that it will be introducing a metered model for NYTimes.com at the beginning of 2011. This will enable NYTimes.com to create a second revenue stream and preserve its robust advertising business.
• March 12, 2009:  The New York Times announces that Ross Douthat, a columnist and former senior editor at The Atlantic, will write a column for The New York Times.  Beginning mid-April, his columns will appear occasionally on The New York Times Op-Ed page and online at nytimes.com/opinion and will cover politics, foreign and national affairs.
  
  March 22, 2010:  Richard Berke, previously assistant managing editor, is named National editor of The New York Times, replacing Suzanne Daley, who returns to the Foreign desk.
  
  April 2, 2010: The New York Times announces the release of The New York Times Editors' Choice app for the iPad.
• May 19, 2010: Executive editor Bill Keller informs staff members (by email) that Jill Abramson, managing editor for news at The New York Times, will step aside for six months in order to concentrate on the Times’s digital operation.
  
  Ms. Abramson’s newsroom responsibilities will be filled by three editors on a rotating basis: Dean Baquet, an assistant managing editor and Washington bureau chief, Susan Chira, the foreign editor, and Larry Ingrassia, the business editor.

---

Note: The New York Times' Corporate Communication and Archive Departments provided the dates when selected news sections of the paper were first introduced. The New-York Historical Society Library staff established when Herald Square and Greeley Square officially acquired their names. Other dates on company histories were researched and confirmed by The Chicago Tribune, Newsday, CNN, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the New York State Newspaper Project, and Lexis Nexis.

Bibliography

Andriote, John-Manuel. Hot Stuff: A Brief History of Disco. New York: Harper Entertainment, 2001.

Berger, Meyer. The Story of The New York Times, 1851-1921 New York: Simon & Schuster, 1951.

Dates, Jannette L. and Barlow, William. Split Image: African Americans In The Mass Media. Washington D.C.: Howard University Press, 1990.

Davis, Elmer History of The New York Times, 1851-1921. New York: The New York Times, 1921.

Diamond, Edwin. Behind the Times: Inside The New York Times. New York: Villard Books, 1994.

Goulden, Joseph C. Fit to Print: A.M. Rosenthal and His Times. Secaucus, N.J.: Lyle Stuart, 1998.

Kahn, Roger. "The House of Adolph Ochs." Saturday Evening Post. October 9, 1965.

Kane, Joseph Nathan. Famous First Facts: A Record of First Happenings, Discoveries, and Inventions in American History. New York: H.W. Wilson, 1997.

Kass, Stephen L. and McCarroll, Jean M. "Westway Redux?" New York Law Journal. June 23, 2000.

Kihss, Peter. "Harlem Riots Spread Over 3 Decades" The New York Times, July 20, 1964.

Kirkpatrick, David D. "Publishers Set To Remove Older Articles From Files." The New York Times June 26, 2001.

Meadow, Charles T. "Online Database Industry Timeline." Database. October, 1988.

Mencken, H.L. The American Language: An Inquiry Into The Development of English In The United States. New York: Alfred-A-Knopf, 1963.

Mott, Frank Luther. American Journalism: A History, 1690-1960. New York: Macmillan, 1962.

Salisbury, Harrison E. Without Fear or Favor: An Uncompromising Look at The New York Times. New York: Times Books, 1980.

Shepard, Richard F. The Paper's Papers: A Reporter's Journey Through the Archives of The New York Times. New York: Times Books, 1996.

Tifft, Susan E. and Jones, Alex S. The Trust: The Private and Powerful Family Behind The New York Times. Boston: Little Brown, 1999.

Recommended References

Jackson, Kenneth T., ed. The Encyclopedia of New York City. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995.

Johnson, Gerald W. An Honorable Titan: A Biographical Study of Adolph S. Ochs. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1946.

Ostrander, Stephen J. "All the News That's Fit to Print: Adolph Ochs and The New York Times." Timeline (a publication of the Ohio Historical Society), 10, no 1 (Jan./Feb.1993).

"150th Anniversary 1851-2001: From The Newspaper To The Information Age" (A special section published November 14, 2001). The New York Times.

Gelb, Arthur. City Room. G.P Putnam's Sons, 2003.

Frankel, Max. The Times of My Life and My Life With The Times. Dell Publishing, 1999.

The One That Got Away:  A Memoir By Howell Raines. A Lisa Drew Book, 2006.

 

 Bill Lucey

[email protected]

September 18, 2013