By Elliott Brack, editor and publisher
APRIL 5, 2016 | A few interesting tidbits we have read or heard about recently might be of interest to you:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL is now underway, do you know what the original way to end a game was? At baseball’s beginnings, the original “Knickerbocker” rules said the game would end when there were 21 “aces” or runs. If mismatched, a game could end quickly. If no one much scored, it could last forever. Soon they settled on nine innings, that is, if one team was ahead at the end of nine. The standard game has been nine innings since March 7, 1857.
But if you know baseball: if tied after nine, the game can go on forever…..until one team gets at least one run ahead.
THE YELLOW RIVER POST OFFICE is now an official part of the Gwinnett Department of Parks and Recreation. However, at one time, developers had their eyes on the five acre tract of land on Five Forks Road.
Hill
Wayne Hill tells us that he was approached by the late attorney Howard Fowler, who wanted to know if the County would accept the historic site into the parks system, if it were given to them. Eventually, Wayne said yes, and now we have the old edifice restored to its original purpose.
It was far later that Hill learned that Fowler was representing an anonymous donor, who turned out to be the late Scott Hudgens, who didn’t want to see the site go to private development, and who quietly bought it to give to the county.
It’s now a passive park showing what life was like in the 19th Century, with not only the post office, but general store, sharecropper’s house, school and slave cabin.
GEORGIA’S LOTTERY has been benefiting good high school students going to college since June 29, 1993. But do you know when and where lotteries started?
It was in England, back in 1569. Seems Queen Elizabeth I needed to rebuild harbors and make England competitive in world trade, and of course, this took money. But taxation? No. The first lottery was limited to 40,000 entries at 10 shillings each, too high for most of her subjects. First prize was $5,000 English pounds. In addition, all buying lottery tickets got a free “get out of jail” card. Now you know where Monopoly got the idea!
Eventually, the British lottery was halted. In more modern times, Prime Minister John Major reinstated the British Lottery in 1994. Way back in 1732, Henry Fielding recognized and understood lotteries, saying: “A lottery is a taxation upon all the fools in creation; and heaven be praised, it is easily raised, for credulity’s always in fashion.”
THEN THERE’S THIS baseball item, which resurfaced last week:
In the April issue of Sports Illustrated in 1985, George Plimpton reported that the New York Mets had recruited a phenomenal young pitcher who had learned his craft in a Tibetan monastery. The pitcher’s name was Sidd Finch, and he could throw a 168-mile-per-hour fastball. Plimpton buried a clue in the article’s subtitle: “He’s a pitcher, part yogi and part recluse. Impressively liberated from our opulent life-style, Sidd’s deciding about yoga — and his future in baseball.” The first letter of each word spelled out “Happy April Fools’ Day – ah fib.”
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