1895 — William George Morgan invents Mintonette. That, my friends, was the name that was chosen before it was renamed to Volleyball. It was renamed vleeyball because in the game you “volley” the ball back and forth over the net.
Feb. 15 1903 – The first Teddy bear goes on sale. Yes, the Teddy bear is actually named after Teddy Roosevelt. The reason why the teddy bear is so darn cute and fluffy and adorable is because deep down inside so was the Rough Rider himself. Champion of the Square Deal, leader of the Republican party, war hero and conservationist, TR was an old softy. After he returned from Cuba (see Spanish-American War), he joined President McKinley’s platform as candidate for VP, and McKinley and Roosevelt won the election of 1900. He was VP under McKinley for six months until McKinley was assassinated, and Teddy took over the White House. Aside from being a major conservationist, he ironically liked hunting. But just for the sport of it, let there be no doubt about it. Once, one of his guides chased down and clubbed a bear and tied it to the tree. When Teddy Roosevilt saw hehe either shot the bear to put it out of its misery, or let the bear go, one of the two, accounts vary on this. Political cartoonist Clifford Berryman, who drew for the Washington Post, illustrated the bear as a cub, implying that under his rough and tough macho image, Teddy was just an old softie at heart.
1863 – James Plimpton patents the four wheeled rollerskates. He also opened the first roller skate rink in New York. Wheeee!
Jan. 19 1938 – Alfred Mosher Butts makes the layout for the board game Scrabble! Scrabble was actually a real word that meant to scratch furiously! If that’s not enough for you, just remember there’s also Super Scrabble! Incidentally, if you’re looking for a word that ends in Q and is legal, there are two words you can use: umiaq and tranq. Pretty sure those are legit. As far as I know there are no legal words that end in the letter X.
Jan. 26 1819 Happy birthday Abner Doubleday, Union general-major and alleged inventor of baseball. Here’s how the story goes, as I understand it. On December 30, 1907 – Abraham Mills commission declared Abner Doubleday, former Union general in the Civil War, invented baseball. This is not true, however, and baseball is somewhat a morph of cricket and rounders, which is an old English game. Americans would give it a diamond, three strike rule, and foul lines. Someone please correct me if I’m wrong anywhere on this.
1929 Edwin Lowe patents the game Bingo! He’s originally from Poland but moved to New York when he was 18. He got the idea of Bingo while watching a loosely similar game called Beano at a carnival in Georgia. He went home and made a similar game to play with his friends. One of his friends got so exceited when she won she yelled Bingo! He went into business and mass marketed the game, along with miniature chess and checkers games that soldiers could play during WWII. Now an enrepenuer, he met a couple who played a game on their…yacht. I sweat I am not making this up. This is how he also invented the game….wait for it…..yachtzee! Good times! Thanks Edwin!
Feb. 12, 1927 1899 – George F. Bryant patents the wooden golf tee.
Dec. 31, 1935 – Charles Darrow patents the Monopoly game. Just in time for New year’s Eve! If you’re some of those people who don’t prefer to go out on New Year’s Eve and would rather have a quiet night at home, there’s certainly nothing wrong with that. There are so many variations of Monopoly these days the list alone needs its own wikipage. Believe me you have got to see this list! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_licensed_and_localized_editions_of_Monopoly:_USA
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