Jim Thome (born 1970) played Major League Baseball for 22 years,
starting with the Cleveland Indians in 1991 and joining the Philadelphia
Phillies in 2002. Traded to the Chicago White Sox before the 2006
season, he won the American League Comeback Player of the Year Award
that year. After back pain limited him to being a designated hitter, he
had stints with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Minnesota Twins, Indians and
Phillies before ending his career with the Baltimore Orioles. A prolific
power hitter, Thome hit 612 home runs during his career—the seventh-
most of all time. He was a member of five All-Star teams and won a
Silver Slugger Award in 1996. One of his trademarks was his unique
batting stance, pointing the bat at right field before the pitcher
threw, something he first saw in the film The Natural. He was known for
his consistent positive attitude and gregarious personality. An active
philanthropist during his playing career, he was honored with two Marvin
Miller Man of the Year Awards and a Lou Gehrig Memorial Award.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Thome>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1810:
Napoleonic Wars: The French Navy defeated the Royal Navy,
preventing them from taking the harbour of Grand Port on Île de la
Passe.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Grand_Port>
1832:
Black Hawk, leader of the Sauk tribe of Native Americans,
surrendered to US authorities, ending the Black Hawk War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hawk_War>
1928:
Over sixty nations signed the Kellogg–Briand Pact, renouncing
war as an instrument of national policy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kellogg%E2%80%93Briand_Pact>
1957:
The Constitution of Malaya came into force, three days before
the Federation of Malaya achieved formal independence from the United
Kingdom.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Malaysia>
2000:
Moscow's Ostankino Tower caught fire, killing three people and
disrupting television and radio signals around the city.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostankino_Tower>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
wantokism:
The Melanesian cultural practice of relying on one's wantoks for any
need, and of sharing the fruits of one's personal success with one's
wantoks.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wantokism>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I believe in man's capacity for achieving great things and in
the combined force resulting from encounters and exchanges. I plead for
greater liberty and a more open world … because it provides a setting
which liberates individuals and their creativity as no other system can.
It spurs the dynamism which has led to human, economic, scientific, and
technical advances, and which will continue to do so.
--Johan Norberg
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Johan_Norberg>