Hirschi Law Group PLLC

June 9 - 15

This Week in History 
Teenage Rookie      

June 10, 1944 - Joe Nuxhall of the Cincinnati Reds became the youngest player ever in a Major League Baseball game when he pitched two-thirds of an inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at the age of 15. Nuxhall's presence in the major leagues was due to a shortage caused by World War II, which found many players serving in the armed services (including such stars as Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio and Yogi Berra).  Scouts from the Reds originally visited Nuxhall's home to try and recruit his father Orville, who played amateur ball. After Orville turned the scouts down, they noticed Joe, who was throwing a baseball in a nearby field. At 6'3" and 190 pounds Joe was large for his age, and he could throw an 85 mile per hour fastball. After trying out with the team Nuxhall received a contract and traveled with the Reds for several months before his first game.  On June 10, with Cincinnati trailing 13-0 in the top of the ninth, Reds manager Bill McKechnie figured there was no harm in allowing the high school freshman to pitch an inning.  Nuxhall's debut performance was far from spectacular.  After retiring two of the first three batters he went on to allow five runs, five walks, two hits and a wild pitch before being pulled from the game. Two days later he was sent down to the minor leagues. However, eight years later Nuxhall returned to the Reds rotation where he pitched for 16 seasons before retiring to become a radio announcer.
 
Crowned at the Stakes   

June 11, 1919 - Sir Barton, a three-year-old  thoroughbred colt, won the Belmont Stakes, becoming the first horse to win the Triple Crown.  Sir Barton was a surprise winner of the Triple Crown as his presence in the Kentucky Derby was to be a "rabbit" for his stablemate, a horse named Billy Kelly. (A rabbit is a horse that sets a fast pace from the beginning to wear out the rest of the field and allow a late- breaking horse to win.) However, Sir Barton led the race from start to finish, winning by five lengths.  Only four days later, he won the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore. In the Belmont Stakes Sir Barton not only ensured his place in history as the first Triple Crown winner, but also set a new record for the mile and three-eighths race. In the 136-year history of the three races there have only been 11 winners of the Triple Crown, with the last winner, Affirmed, taking the crown in 1978.
 
Diversity of Justice  

June 13, 1967 - President Lyndon Johnson nominated Solicitor-General Thurgood Marshall to become the first African American justice on the United States Supreme Court.  Marshall served on the high court from October 1967 to October 1991, during which time he compiled a liberal record that included strong support for Constitutional protection of individual rights, especially the rights of criminal suspects against the government. After Mashall's retirement in 1991 he was replaced by Justice Clarence Thomas.
 

 

"Sometimes history takes things into its own hands."

- Thurgood Marshall

Heath is Reading

 

 

Mockingjay   

by Suzanne Collins

 

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