Baseball great
Honus Wagner orders the American Tobacco Company to take his picture off
its Sweet Caporal cigarette packs, fearing they would lead children to
smoke. The shortage makes the Honus Wagner card the most valuable of all
time.
Born March
31, 1878, Jack Johnson was the second of six children. In his early
years, he was poor. He dropped out of school in fifth grade
and took odd jobs in southern Texas. Later, in 1897, he became a
professional boxer. In 1908, Texan Jack Johnson defeated Tommy Burns
to win the World Heavyweight Boxing Championship, becoming the first black
heavyweight champion.
Cy Young was
an awesome pitcher in the 1900-1909 decade. Most pitchers only pitched
half of a game, but Young pitched 749 games by himself. That is considered
amazing. Most pitchers could not do that without blowing out their
arm. He could take 12 pitches to warm-up, and pitch a winning game.
His name isn't really Cy. His real name is Denton. He retired with
the most career wins (511), innings pitched (7,354), and complete games
(749) in history. Since most pitchers don't get the MVP Award (Most
Valuble Player) they created the "Cy Young Award" named after Cy Young.
It is rewarded to the best pitcher of the year. Cy could have won
at least twelve of these awards. He played for 22 years. In 1937
he was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. |
1900
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