Ozzie Smith (born 1954) is a retired American professional baseball player who was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2002. Nicknamed "The Wizard," Smith played shortstop for the San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals in Major League Baseball, winning the National League Gold Glove Award for play at shortstop for 13 consecutive seasons. A 15-time All-Star, Smith accumulated 2,460 hits and 580 stolen bases during his career, and won the National League Silver Slugger Award as the best hitter at shortstop in 1987. Smith continued to earn Gold Gloves and All Star appearances on an annual basis until 1993, and later missed nearly three months of the 1995 season after undergoing shoulder surgery. After tension between Smith and his new manager Tony La Russa developed in 1996, Smith decided to retire at season's end, and subsequently had his uniform number (# 1) retired by the Cardinals. Smith served as host of the television show This Week in Baseball from 1997 to 1999, and continues to be an entrepreneur in a variety of business ventures.
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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1558:
Elizabeth I became Queen of England and Ireland, marking the beginning of the Elizabethan era. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_I_of_England
1796:
French Revolutionary Wars: French forces defeated the Austrians at the Battle of the Bridge of Arcole in a maneuver to cut the latter's line of retreat. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Bridge_of_Arcole
1855:
Explorer David Livingstone became the first European to see Victoria Falls, one of the largest waterfalls in the world, on what is now the Zambia–Zimbabwe border. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Falls
1869:
The Suez Canal , which allows water transportation between Europe and Asia by linking the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, opened to shipping. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suez_Canal
1950:
Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, was enthroned as Tibet's head of state at the age of fifteen. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/14th_Dalai_Lama
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
Demiurge (n): 1. (Platonism) The subordinate being that fashions the perceptible world in the light of eternal ideas. 2. (Gnosticism) A prideful, inferior being that creates the material world http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Demiurge
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
What I say is, that the real non-resistants can believe in direct action only, never in political action. For the basis of all political action is coercion; even when the State does good things, it finally rests on a club, a gun, or a prison, for its power to carry them through. --Voltairine de Cleyre http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Voltairine_de_Cleyre