This Day in History – April 17, 2011

1534 Sir Thomas More confined in London Tower 1704 1st successful US newspaper; published in Boston by John Campbell 1758 Francis Williams, 1st US black college graduate, publishes poems 1817 1st US school for the deaf founded by Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc (American School for the Deaf-Hartford CT) 1853 US Marine Hospital at Presidio (San Francisco) established 1865 Mary Surratt is arrested as a conspirator in Lincoln‘s assassination 1875 “Snooker” (variation of pool) invented by Sir Neville Chamberlain 1892 1st Sunday National League baseball game, Cincinnati Reds beat St Louis Cardinals 5-1 1905 US Supreme court judges maximum work day unconstitutional 1907 11,745 immigrants arrive at Ellis Island NY 1912 1st unofficial gold record (Al Jolson’s “Ragging The Baby To Sleep”) 1920 American Professional Football Association forms (NFL) 1923 Longest National League opening game, Phillies & Dodgers tie 5-5 in 14 1924 Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures & Louis B Mayer Company merged to form MGM 1951 New York Yankee Mickey Mantle’s 1st game, he goes 1 for 4 1953 Mickey Mantle hits a 565′ (172 meter) homerun in Washington DC‘s Griffith Stadium 1969 Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of assassinating Senator Robert F Kennedy 1978 63,500,000 shares traded on New York stock exchange (record) 1982 Canada adopts its constitution 1983 Nolan Ryan strikes out his 3,500th batter 1987 Julius Erving becomes the 3rd NBA player to score 30,000 points 1997 John Bell, 115, recieves new pacemaker ]]]]> ]]>