Free of charge for the discerning reader. Charlie Lau passes, and other stories. Welcome to the Tokyo Dome.
Today in baseball history:
1990 – Major league players and owners reach a new collective bargaining agreement that will end the 32-day lockout of spring training camps. Highlights of the deal include increasing the clubs’ contributions to the players’ pension fund, raising the major league minimum salary to $100,000, and a compromise on salary arbitration that leaves 17 percent of players with between two and three years of major league experience eligible.
Cubs Birthdays: Jimmy Callahan, Hiram Bithorn, Dick Littlefield, Fernando Rodney, Trey Mancini.
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Today in history:
37 – Roman Senate annuls Tiberius’ will and proclaims Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (aka Caligula = Little Boots) emperor.
1314 – Jacques de Molay, the 23rd and the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, is burned at the stake by King Philip IV of France.
1662 – First public bus service begins, promoted by Blaise Pascal, operates in Paris as the “Carosses a Cinq Sous” until 1675.
1881 – Barnum & Bailey Circus, traveling as “The Greatest Show on Earth”, debuts at Madison Square Garden in New York City following the merger of two existing circus groups.
1965 – Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov leaves his spacecraft Voskhod 2 for 12 minutes and becomes the first person to conduct a spacewalk.
*pictured.