Historical Coincidences are Quite Numerous

October 12. It seems like just another ordinary day. It probably is just another ordinary day, even though a few extraordinary things happened on October 12. If one wishes, one can peer into the past and find patterns and connections that seem unusual, even eerie. It's a kind of pointless fun, which is pretty much what this blog is for.

So...

October 12, 1492: Chris Columbus landed in what is now the Bahamas. He thought he had found India or something close to India. He was of course mistaken. Some sources say that the date was really October 13 but Columbus fudged his ship's log because the 13th was considered an unlucky day. Here's a related Brautigan poem, part of a longer series called "Good Luck, Captain Martin."

 

The Bottle      Part 3
A child stands motionless.
He holds a bottle in his hands.
There's a ship in the bottle.
He stares at it with eyes
that do not blink.
He wonders where a tiny ship
can sail to if it is held
prisoner in a bottle.
Fifty years from now you will
find out, Captain Martin,
for the sea (large as it is)
is only another bottle.

October 12, 1810: A princess with the musical name Therese von Sachsen Hildburghausen married a Bavarian prince with the prosaic name Louis. The prince soon became King Ludwig I and so Therese became a queen. Their wedding was a big deal in Bavaria and the event was celebrated throughout the land with music and dancing and beer. It was so much fun that the Bavarians decided to do it every year. It became known as Oktoberfest. For this we thank them. Herr Bossnack, my high school German teacher, taught us several drinking songs, including the one seen here. For this I thank him.

October 12, 1892: Exactly 400 years after Columbus began his vacation in the Bahamas, the first rail shipment of iron ore went from Mountain Iron, MN to Duluth. The Duluthians were busy celebrating Oktoberfest (or was it Columbus day?), so the ore sat in piles by the dock for a week before the barely-sober stevedores loaded it onto a big ship headed for Gary, IN.

Iron Ore Betty is the unofficial queen of the Iron Range thanks to this goofy John Prine tune.

October 12, 1960: The United Nations general assembly was meeting in New York. It was a typically cordial (read: boring) meeting until it was Nikita Kruschev's turn to speak. He was agitated about something and began a new rhetorical tradition by removing his shoe and pounding the podium with it. The reasons for his outburst are obscure, but it's likely that he wanted Russian vodka to get equal billing with German beer at the UN after-party.

Enigmas, anyone?

It's the birthday of Vladimir Putin, born in Leningrad (now known as St. Petersburg), Russia in 1952. Russia was still part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Joe Stalin was still general chairman of the Communist Party. Little Vladimir went to technical school in St. Petersburg. He somehow got into the spy business, eventually becoming the head of the intelligence service. He went from there into politics.

I just finished a book by Anne Garrels titled "Putin Country: A Journey into the Real Russia." It confirms some of what we learned when visiting St. Petersburg a few years ago: Russians see Vladimir as a fierce defender of the motherland, yet they complain bitterly of ubiquitous political corruption and the kleptocracy of the powerful at the expense of the average Russian citizen.

Russia, no thanks to Putin, has given the world great literature, great art, and great music. I imagine Mr. Putin going to the Bolshoi Ballet and wishing he were somewhere else.

Putin should not be confused with poutine, although both are distasteful in their own way.

St. Paul is a baseball town. Really.

Today is the birthday (1951) of Dave Winfield. He was born in St. Paul and grew up there. He went to the University of Minnesota and was a star in several sports. Indeed, professional teams in basketball, football, and baseball drafted Winfield. He chose baseball, was converted from a pitcher to a power-hitting outfielder, and became a star. He spent 22 seasons in the majors, was an all-star every year from 1977 to 1988, and made the Hall of Fame in 2001.

Some interesting things about big Dave:

In 1983, Winfield was playing for the Yankees when, during pregame warmups in Toronto, he threw a ball that hit and killed a seagull. Canadian authorities briefly considered charging him with animal cruelty.

Winfield spent one season (1992) in Toronto, where he helped the blue Jays win their first World Series. They traded him during that off-season.

The irascible George Steinbrenner, owner of the Yankees, was so frustrated by Winfield's lack of production in the playoffs that he dubbed Winfield "Mr. May."

When he was inducted into the Hall of Fame, Winfield gave one of the longest and most boring speeches ever. I know, because Michael and I were there. Kirby Puckett and Bill Mazeroski were inducted that year, too, and their speeches were much better.

We saw Winfield some years later in the Los Angeles Airport. He was heading back to Minnesota to attend the memorial service for Kirby Puckett.

And then there's Jack Morris.

Jack Morris was also born in St. Paul and also played on the 1992 Toronto Blue Jays championship team (he pitched in three playoff games and lost all three). Morris had pitched that amazing Game 7 -- a complete-game shutout -- for the Twins the year before. Winfield made the Hall of Fame on his first year of eligibility; Morris was on the ballot for 15 years before finally getting the votes.

Morris works as a commentator on some Twins TV broadcasts and he is the quintessential grumpy old man. Nothing about the modern game suits him -- he doesn't like advanced stats, the defensive shift, the use of replays, long pants, or bat flips. I can barely stand to listen to him whine.

And don't forget Paul Molitor.

Molitor grew up in St. Paul and had a brilliant 21-year career, mostly with the Brewers. Like Morris and Winfield, he played for the Twins briefly and with Toronto (he was the Blue Jays MVP in 1993 when they repeated as World Series champs). He finished his career as Minnesota's manager but was summarily dismissed after last year's crummy showing.