John Merrill

August 23: Pete Drops the Ball

Those in the know, knew Pete had a gambling problem but everyone thought he only bet on football or played the horses. Then in ’89 those same people in the know began to suspect he was betting on “the game” and then it was betting on his own team.

Charlie Hustle as the press called him, began playing baseball in 1963 for the Cincinnati Reds and continued playing until 1986. In 1984 he became the team’s manager and remained that position after he retired as a player until the end.

That beginning of the end came in February of 1989 when he was questioned by baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth on allegations that he was betting on the game. Without question Pete denied the allegations and Ueberroth dropped the investigation. When Ueberroth retired as commissioner shortly after this, Bart Giamatti took over and three days later, he hired an attorney to investigate the allegations against Pete.

Lawyer John Dowd began an extensive investigation, interviewing players, bookies, and bet runners. Dowd came documented the allegations against Pete and then issued his report. In the report Charlie Hustle as Pete was called by the press was shown to have been wagering at least $10,000 every day during ’87 and he bet on 52 Cincinnati Reds games.

Pete and his friends did not believe the report and Pete refused to appear before the commissioner later that year. The commissioner threatened to take the matter before a federal court. At that point Pete negotiated a settlement.

On this, August 24, 1989, Pete agreed to be permanently placed on baseball’s ineligible list. It was a dark day for baseball and 8 days after issuing this agreement, Bart Giamatti died of a heart attack. In 2004 Pete Rose published a book where he admits to gambling on the game and his team.

August 22: Ulysses S. Grant Marries Julia

By John Merrill

Their relationship had lasted 4 years before today in 1848. Julia Dent’s father warned her not to get involved with the man. He was a poor soldier that would never be able to provide for in the manner she had become accustomed to in the luxury of the White Haven plantation.

Her father, Colonel Frederick Dent, a slave owner and merchant in eastern Missouri, didn’t believe Ulysses Grant could provide for his beloved daughter the way that he felt she should be pampered. Outwardly, Colonel Dent admired the young man because he had been a West Point classmate of Julia’s brother. When the colonel found out that Grant had graduated in the lower 3^rd of his class, his hopes for her daughter with the young man from Ohio faded.

Julia told her father the first time Grant proposed to her. He tried to dissuade his daughter that she could find someone better. The colonel told her he would probably never amount to anything and as a soldier he would be gone from home for long stretches at a time.

Grant proposed again, and again she deflected his proposal in such a way that it didn’t dampen his affection for the 16 year old girl who had captured his heart. Grant had written his father Jesse back in Ohio and told him about Julia and how beautiful and kind she was. He didn’t mention the colonel or the fact that he was a slave owner. That came in another letter when Jesse asked about her family. Jesse joined the colonel in being against the marriage, just for different reasons.

Finally, in 1844 Grant once again proposed to Julia while they were sitting on the front steps at White Haven. Julia agreed and when Grant spoke to her father, his father had a change of heart if not about Grant, but about his hope for his daughter’s happiness.

Not long after their engagement was announced, Grant was sent south. A war with Mexico seemed imminent and on April 25, 1846 war did erupt and Grant found himself in combat for the first time, but it didn’t last long. In February 2, 1848, the war was over and Grant eventually made his way back to St. Louis and his Julia.

On this day in August of 1848, Ulysses S. Grant and Julia Dent were married. It was a good day for both Ulysses and Julia. The rest of their lives together would not be as happy as this one day.

August 21: The Olds Motor Works is Formed

By John Merrill

On this day Ransom Eli Olds formed the Olds Motor Works. The year was 1897. Eli had just turned 33 a few months ago. Although he was then living in Lansing, Michigan, when he was born his family was living in Geneva, Ohio. There his father was experimenting with steam engines.

1897 Steam Powered Pirate on Florida beach being driven by Eli

Five years later the Olds family moved and eventually found their way to Michigan. There young Ransom learned his father’s business and joined him in fabricating more efficient, smaller and more powerful steam engines. Ransom came up with the idea of incorporating a steam engine with a carriage, thus building one of the very first horseless carriages.

A few years later Samuel Smith bought Ransom’s company and changed the name to Oldsmobile.

In 1904, unhappy with the direction the company was taking, Ransom left the company and formed the REO Motor Car Company. Four years after that his original company was purchased by General Motors and became part of that conglomerate. But the REO Motor Car Company continued on as an independent motor company. That company continued to produce quality autos and trucks up through World War II.

August 20: The Blue Jacket and the Black Snake

By John Merrill

Blue Jacket had prepared his warriors for the advancing threat. Little Turtle had warned the younger Shawnee leader to be careful. Little Turtle knew this American general was different that the previous American generals he had fought and defeated. This general took his time. He was slow to move, but when he moved, he moved with purpose. Little Turtle could see many of his own battle scars in this aging warrior. He was nothing like the early ones. This one’s got teeth. The one was like a black snake that would take his time and wait for the right opportunity.

Blue Jacket believed this was the time to stop the liars before they spread. “We cannot trust the whites,” he had shouted before the council. “We can never trust them, anymore than we can trust the bear with our children. The white liars move across our land like squirrels devouring everything.” He knew Little Turtle was too old to fight again; he had his time and already proven his wisdom. This was Blue Jacket’s time.

The Shawnee leader had brought together more than 2000 brave warriors from all the Nations. They were the best, they were ready. The black snake could bite, but he had no venom—take the bite and cut the head off.

Blue Jacket’s scouts had already shouted their warning. The Black Snake was just a days march. They had prepared already for the days battle but the Black Snake had coiled back. Oh a sly one he is, this viper knows.

A days light had already been lost and the Black Snake had not yet appeared. A warrior scout came in and said they were making their fires, there would be no battle today. Tomorrow for sure. Another night of fasting. Was it too much to ask his warriors?

ran in and said the black snake is coming—no more than 500 advancing along the river. Blue Jacket brought his warriors together one last time.

“Today we take back our land. Today we stand as united warriors of the same blood. Today we kill this scourge that comes upon us. There will be no retreat. There will be no victory for our enemies,” Blue Jacket shouted in loud voice.

With that the warriors took careful cover behind a stand of thick trees that had been blow down earlier that spring when a tornado passed through. Their hunger pangs from fasting for the last several days were strong, but this coming battle would be worth the trouble

In Blue Jacket’s mind he must have believed this day would be a day his warriors achieved victory for themselves and for himself. The Americans would not be expecting them, the British fort was less than an hours walk north. They would be expecting the fight there, not here along the river.

Just as Blue Jacket had seen, the Americans came stumbling out of the tree line right in front of his warriors and as soon as they fired upon them, they ran like cowards back into the woods. His warriors had been victorious without a single casualty.

Blue Jacket pushed them to chase down the stupid Americans. “Kill them!” he shouted, “Kill them all!”

Blue Jacket’s alliance among the Nations was clearly winning the fight. It would be a glorious day.

No more than 30 minutes into the rout, a scout ran in and reported the Americans were flanking on both sides. How could this be? When Blue Jacket realized the black snake had five times more men than first reported, he knew the fight would be over quickly. Blue Jacket told his warriors to fall back to the British fort. He also asked his bravest men to stay and hold, kick the snake while they made their retreat. He knew those men would be bitten severely.

Blue Jacket could hear the heavy gun fire as they ran along the river bank and then it stopped. He knew his bravest warriors could stand up no longer. It was only a matter of time before the snake would start biting at the rest of his men. The British fort was his only recourse. Little Turtle’s words of warning echoed loudly in his ears.

A runner arrived with news from the fort: the British dogs had closed the gates. They would not open them to let Blue Jacket and his warriors inside. Another runner from the back said the snake was almost within striking distance. Blue Jacket ordered his men onward to the north.

The Americans did not attack the British fort, nor did they follow Blue Jacket. Instead they setup camp just west of the British fort known as Fort Miamis.

During the night the American General known as Mad Anthony Wayne, sent several groups of his men to reconnoiter the land around the fort and whether they were occupied or not, to destroy any villages and their crops they came upon. By morning the British commander could see the smoke lines drifting the early morning light.

Later that morning the British commander, Colonel Campbell, sent a flag of truce to Wayne’s camp asking his intentions. Wayne replied brusquely: “My intentions should be perfectly clear!”

However, General Wayne did not pursue Blue Jacket, nor did he attack the fort. He remained outside the fort for a few days more before retracing the trail they had blazed back to Camp Greene Ville.

With their crops destroyed, that winter would be a difficult one for the Nations. The British could not be depended upon neither on their word or their support. By the next spring Blue Jacket sent a messenger to the black snake asking for a treaty and food for his people. General Wayne replied for the Nations to meet with him and they would work out a treaty and he would feed his people.

That summer a treaty was agreed upon and peace was achieved. Blue Jacket would spend the rest of his days in silence and spoke no more about the black snake.

It was on this day in 1795, the Treaty of Greenville was signed by Blue Jacket and many of the Nations agreeing they would take up arms no more against the Americans. In 10 years though, another Shawnee leader named Tecumseh, who did not sign the treaty, would rise up and lead his people and the Nations against the Americans.

August 20: Professional football takes the field

By John Merrill

On this day Ralph E. Hay asked 6 of his friends and associates to meet with him in his Canton Ohio auto dealership where he sold Hupmobiles. The one thing that all of these men had in common was their love of football. Four of the men at the Hay’s dealership that day were already professional football team owners. They were members of the Ohio League which included the Akron Pros, Cleveland Indians, the Dayton Triangles and Hay’s Canton Bulldogs. and they were used to seeing each other during the fall. But this was a little unusual, the teams were still practicing and getting ready for the fall season.

Hay had bought his team called the Canton Bulldogs a couple of years earlier. He thought it would be a good idea to promote his automobile dealership, plus he just loved the game. But today’s meeting would mean a giant leap forward for the game. These men were here to form a new football league that could take their new league to a higher level.

At the meeting they decided to call the new league the American Professional Football Association and the creation of the American Professional Football Conference. They also nominated Ralph Hay’s coach and star player, Jim Thorpe to be the league’s first president.

Jim Thorpe dressed in his Canton Bulldogs uniform

Jim Thorpe who had been getting his Bulldogs ready for the first game, was honored that they would nominate him. But for the owners, it was purely a good business decision. Jim Thorpe was a star athlete and recognized around the world for Olympic accomplishments a few years back. The business men assembled at Hay’s dealership thought having Thorpe as the president of the new football league could only improve their legitimacy and attendance.

One month later, the men met once again and electing Jim Thorpe to be president of the new league, and they changed the league’s name to the American Professional Football Association. Two years later the league’s name would once again be changed to the National Football League – the NFL we all enjoy watching every Sunday.

August 19: Bubs the printer is born

By John Merrill

It was on this day in 1871 that Bubs was born in Dayton, Ohio. He would be the sixth of seven children for Rev. Milton and his wife Susan.

Throughout his life Bubs had an intense desire to learn and discover, yet he never graduated from high school. It wasn’t because he was stupid or didn’t care, he did care, but having already decided on his life’s work, he didn’t feel it necessary to have a simple piece of paper to succeed. He had decided he wanted to be a printer, but not just a printer, he wanted to be a publisher.

Even before his high school days were over, Bubs had started a printing business with Ed Sines, a classmate and friend who already owned a small printing press and enough type to set a full page folio.
While not specifically detailed, I’m sure Bubs got the printing bug when as a young boy he would visit his father’s office was located above a local print shop that had a large steam powered press.

During his summer vacation, Bubs got a job in a local print shop cleaning up the shop and helping wipe down the presses between runs. What he was actually doing was picking up the techniques of the printing trade– learning the jargon, learning the tools of setting justified type and running proofs. These summer months working there were invaluable to him and helped set him on the right course.

By the time Bubs was sixteen, he was ready to expand his joint venture with Ed. Bubs thought a new press was in order along with more type fonts that would greatly expand the print shop’s capabilities, but Ed wasn’t interested in expanding their business. So instead of expanding their venture. Bubs bought out his friend’s interest and then hired him to help.

To do what he wanted to do, Bubs realized he needed more help. He couldn’t do the sales work, write the stories, set the type and run the press. What he could do was convince his older brother Ullam to join him. Bubs told him that he could be the Editor and Bubs would be the Publisher.
When a seasoned printer visited Bubs’ father, Milton, he took a look at the press Bubs had put together in the backyard shed. The printer agreed with Milton that the press works, but he couldn’t see how it worked.

That printing press was made out of odds and ends Bubs had found including a discarded tombstone that was used as the printing press bed. Once all the type was locked in and inked, the press could produce 1,000 sheets an hour.

With his printing equipment all set, the two boys began selling subscriptions and advertising. They generated enough revenue they could afford a small office. This was the beginning of a partnership that would last all their lives.

Several years later they decided to expand their business to include a manufacturing bicycles. They moved into a new building where they could do the printing on the second floor and manufacture and sell bicycles on the first floor.

In 1899 they decided to change directions entirely and they stopped the presses for good and concentrate on the bicycle shop. They also began investigating the world’s accumulated knowledge on what the two brothers would become best known: being the first men to build and fly a heavier that air machine.

Orville “Bubs” Wright and his older brother Wilbur “Ullam” Wright. To their friends they were just Will and Orv, but to their family they were known as Ullam and Bubs, the two brothers from Dayton that changed the world.

Read more about the brothers >>

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