Today in History: Happy Birthday, Jen!

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

Today is the birthday of the love of my life, Jen. I keep discovering how few ways there are to say “I love you” but how wonderful it is to learn new ways to tell her.

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The Bill of Rights was approved by Congress on this date in 1789 and was readied to be sent to the states to ratify.

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Satchel Paige pitched in his final major league baseball game on this date in 1965. He was 59 years old, and Charles O. Finley, the owner of the Kansas City A’s, signed him to a single-game contract. The game was against the Boston Red Sox, and Paige started, pitched three scoreless innings, and stuck out one batter, the opposing pitcher. Paige sat on a rocking chair in the bullpen between innings.

An interview with Satchel Paige from 1958 (after the jump):
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Panic Room

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

Should I, after tea and cakes and ices,
Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?—T. S. Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”

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Any room with me in it is a panic room.

“Take my advice—I’m not using it.” I can tell you to keep calm. At my worst, I might insist that you keep calm. But as someone who can introduce stress into the least stressful, sweetly innocuous, and even some of the more pleasant experiences in life, when I am confronted with the parts of life that others find truly stressful, I hunker down and find the effort deep inside myself to make them yet more stressful.

In one of my lesser achievements in the field of stress management, I gave myself a black eye while tying my shoes. These were boots with leather laces (I am not a cowboy) and such laces can take a little effort to yank into position. While securing my “half-knot” on my right shoe, the length of lace in my left hand broke and I clocked myself in the right eye. At the time, I was 34 years old, not 11.
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Today in History: September 24

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

The first edition of 60 Minutes was broadcast on CBS on this date in 1968.

About to begin its 49th season, with several spin-offs and more than 1000 episodes, the program holds many American broadcasting records: the longest continuously running show in prime time; the only show (of any kind) that has been in the top ten for as many seasons (it was in the top ten for 23 consecutive seasons); the only show that has been a top 25 show each season for the last 41 seasons. It is one of only four shows to have been the top-rated program for an entire season for as many as five seasons.

The creator of the show, Don Hewitt, had worked with Edward R. Murrow on both of Murrow’s legendary television news programs: See It Now, a hard-hitting news magazine with long-form articles, and Person to Person, an interview and celebrity profile show. Hewitt wanted to produce a show that would combine “high Murrow” with “low Murrow.” Hewitt remained the executive producer of the 60 Minutes until 2004.
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