Remember yesterday when Otto Habsburg had a birthday? Well today was the day that made him as important as he was. His great-uncle (or something similar) died on this date in 1916, and voila! Otto's dad had a new gig, as Emperor of Austria-Hungary. The uncle in question was Franz Joseph, and he ruled the Empire for about a million years (actually, 68 give or take). He became Emperor when his uncle resigned in the wake of a bunch of revolutionary activity. Basically, he stayed on the throne as his empire crumbled around him, losing bits and pieces to the neighbors, and losing influence even when he didn't lose territory. Sadly, his son and heir committed suicide, his wife was assassinated, and his later heir, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was also assassinated. That time, rather than just F.J. being bummed, it led to a world war, so everybody was bummed- especially the millions of people who died. And their families. Somehow, I would bet that Franz Joseph was not terribly bummed to see the Grim Reaper show up at his door. Sometimes life is like that, you know.
Interestingly, the US Army lost an army commander on this date in 1945. And no, it wasn't Patton, whose death is not yet coming... though he won't make it to the New Years Party at the officers club, if you get my drift. No, this was Alexander Patch, who commanded the US Seventh Army in Europe- he was often on the right flank of Patton's Third Army. He also had fought in the South Pacific, at the hellhole of Guadalcanal, where he ultimately commanded the entire show; so I suspect he wasn't too intimidated by anything that happened in Europe. No matter how bad it got, he could shrug his shoulders and say "ever been to Guadalcanal, son?". To be fair, I doubt anybody in Europe in 1944-45 had any clue how bad it was in the South Pacific, but Patch did... At any rate, with the War over and won, he returned to the States, and promptly croaked of pneumonia.
In baseball news, Mel Ott died on this day in 1958. If you've ever seen the batting stance of Tigers second baseman Dick McCauliffe, it was similar to Ott's. Only a bit stranger, as Ott would merely lift his right foot high off the ground, which helped him hit over 500 home runs, which wasn't too bad for a guy who was pretty small. Despite all his other accomplishments, which were considerable, he is best known as the inspiration for the famous Leo Durocher comment "nice guys finish last". Oh, and he also broadcast Tigers games, so he gets an honorary mention as being really cool.
Wanna hear something weird? Ott's teammate, Carl Hubbell also died on this date, 30 years later. For those playing at home, that would be 1988. How weird is that?
A great actor died on this date in 1993, Mr. Eddie's Father, aka Bill Bixby. He was great in My Favorite Martian, the Courtship of Eddie's Father, and of course a little show called The Incredibly Hulk, where he delivered one of the great lines in entertainment history: (You know what's coming, don't you?) "Mr. McGee, don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry." And you wouldn't. Trust me!
And I guess we'll have to end on that note. If you feel like complaining, well don't make me go all David Banner on you!
No comments:
Post a Comment