JULY 31 — 1975 Jimmy Hoffa disappears; 1937 Charles Hires dies (Hires Root Beer); 1849 Benjamin Chambers patents breech loading gun; 1990 Nolan Ryan wins 300th game; 2016 Fight the Kraken rowers Vicki Otmani and Megan Biging reaches Honolulu
JULY 31
1975 – Jimmy Hoffa disappears
…from a parking lot at a restaurant in Detroit. Now why did Time Mag name that disappearance one of America’s Top Ten famous? I’ll get to that in a second.
Born February 14, 1913 in Brazil, Indiana, Jimmy Hoffa became a labor organizer in the 1930s. He worked his way up the ranks all the way up to the President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Union, or the IBT. He was instrumental in forming the signing the first major freight hauling agreement. But, as with many unions, scandals took him to prison in the forms of bribery, mail fraud, and jury tampering. And why not. As president of the IBT, he did, after all, replace David Beck, who was also under criminal charges. Sound familiar? Yeah. But don’t take my word for it, just ask Bobby kennedy and the FBI.
Hoffa’s prison sentence of 13 years began in 1967. He spent three years appealing his convictions to no avail. Luckily for Jimmy, he got out in about three.5 after President Richard Tricky Dick, Gloomy Gus, the Chicken Hearted, Nixon, pardoned Hoffa. So now comes July 30, 1975. Right in front of Machus (Mah-choos) Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Hills, the higher end of Detroit. Write that down folks. That was a million dollar question once on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
According to Time magazine, Two weeks before Hoffa’s disappearance, on July 30, 1975, federal investigators discovered that hundreds of millions of dollars had been stolen from the Teamsters’ largest pension fund. Their attention immediately turned to Mafia bosses Anthony (Tony Jack) Giacalone and Anthony (Tony Pro) Provenzano, both of whom reportedly agreed to meet with Hoffa on the very day of his disappearance.
That rates Jimmy’s disappearance one of the Top 10 best on Time’s list. Mine too, quite frankly.
So what of Jimmy Hoffa? His car was still in the parking lot at the Red Fox, unmolested. Chances are, Jimmy was probably picked up by some local mobsters, taken about20 miles outside Detroit to an empty field, was hit in the back of the head with a shovel and buried alive. Because that’s just how things go down when you’re dealing with Mob Teamsters. Happy early Labor Day everyone!
1937 – Charles Hires passed away.
…He came up with Hires Root Beer, good stuff. He was part of the temperance movement, a movement against the consumption of alcohol Hires believed that Root beer would be a great alternative to alcohol
1849 – Benjamin Chambers patents breech loading gun, way ahead of his time. The interrupted thread breechblock used in guns didn’t become popular for about another fifty years later.
1990 – Nolan Ryan wins 300th game. When he was a young lad, it says in wiki, he liked to throw things. His dad encouraged him to use a baseball. I think he pitched his first no-hitter when he was in little league. While playing at a high school game in 1963, New York Mets Scout Red Murff noticed this fast-throwing young lad and decided to have a chat with his coach, who mentioned that some opponents won’t go up to bat when Nolan’s pitching because he throws the ball so hard and so fast he would break bones in the catcher’s hand.
When he joined the pros, Ryan pitched for the Mets, the California Angels, Houston Astros and Texas Rangers in a 27-year long baseball career. He is the all0time leader in no-hitters with seven, three more than any other player. Nolan Ryan is the only pitcher to have struck out seven pairs of fathers and sons. And on July 31, 1990, he won his 300th game of his career, leading the Rangers to beat the Milwaukee Brewers 11-3
1932 – George Washington quarter goes into circulation, designed by sculptor John Flanagan.
1923 – Founder of Atlantic Records is born. Ahmet Ertegun from Turkey originally, was a businessman, songwriter, and philanthropist. He’s credited for discovering and promoting artists in the genres of rhythm and blues, and rock and roll. Ertegun has been described as one of the most significant figures in the modern recording industry.
2016 — Fight the Kraken reaches Honolulu.
Vicki Otmani from Owasso, OK and Megan Biging from Santa Monica, CA teamed up to become the first and fastest pair of female ocean rowers to cross the Pacific from California to Hawaii.
Imagine! 57 days, 16 hours and 9 minutes. I’m not sure I could do that for even 9 minutes. The women describe their journey like being in a different world of marine animals, interesting birds, hurricanes, and lots of trash. Out of the 57 days they rowed they saw trash in the ocean 57 days.
It was everywhere and sometimes they felt like they were rowing through a landfill of plastic. They had two shark run-ins and actually petted one of them. Acting curious, the birds would hang out with them on their journey. They saw whales, the Milky Way every night and experienced tranquility in between the violent storms and 35’ high waves. One would take three hour rowing shifts while the other slept or rested. By the time the 57 days was completed they lost 80 pounds total and made up for it by eating like a death row inmate when they arrived to Hawaii.
They got over their fears and pushed themselves to limits unimaginable by most people, myself especially. In fact I’m feeling pretty pathetic right about now with my stupid podcast. Megan and Vickie have lessons from which we could all learn.