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Baseball history unpacked, May 5

A thrice-weekly digest, replete with #Cubs, #MLB, and #MiLB content, gathered from reputable sources. Happy birthday to the late Lennie Merullo, no-hitters in history, and more!

Leonard Merullo of the Chicago Cubs
Happy birthday, Lennie Merullo.

On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Bleed Cubbie Blue is pleased to present a light-hearted, Cubs-centric look at baseball’s colorful past, with plenty of the lore and various narratives to follow as they unfold over the course of time. Here’s a handy Cubs timeline, to help you follow along.

Today in baseball history:

Cubs birthdays: Tom Vickery, Lennie Merullo*, Jim Kirby, Dave Gumpert. Also notable: Charles Bender HOF.

*Lennie Merullo was a Cub for six years, during and after World War Two (1941-47). When he passed on May 30, 2015, he was the last surviving member of a Cub team that played in the World Series. He was known as a slick fielder with a knack for hitting in the clutch. His stats seem to bear that impression out.

That 1945 outfit was a good team, with some well-remembered players — Phil Cavarretta was at first, with Andy Pafko and Bill Nicholson in the outfield. The starting five was killer. They weren’t in the Series by accident.

Today in history:

  • 1260 Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, becomes ruler of the Mongol Empire.
  • 1809 Mary Kies is the first woman issued a US patent for weaving straw
  • 1847 American Medical Association organized (Philadelphia)
  • 1905 Robert S Abbott published 1st issue of newspaper “Chicago Defender”
  • 1920 Italian migrant anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti charged with murder of a paymaster at a US shoe factory in Massachusetts, both are later executed
  • 1925 Dayton teacher John T. Scopes arrested for teaching evolution in Tennessee.

Common sources:

*pictured.

Some of these items spread from site to site without being verified. That is exactly why we ask for reputable sources if you have differences with a posted factoid, so that we can address that to the originators and provide clarity if not ‘truth’. Nothing is posted here without at least one instance of corroboration (this also includes the history bullets). Thanks for reading, and thanks also for your cooperation.