Back in class for Professor Buckets history lecture on this day in history, April 9th. I’ve decided to break this lecture into 2 parts, a World History section, and a Sports History section. Pencils and paper out, lets begin.

World History

The first year of real notoriety for April 9th starts in 1682, where Robert La Salle (shout out the LaSalle Expo’s even though you’re horrible) claimed lower Mississippi, which would go on to be Louisiana, for his home country of France. About 200 years after this, Robert E. Lee and his Confederate troops surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant and the Union at Appomattox Court House.

April 9th also saw the world add a new nation to its maps as Latvia declared independence in 1918. This day has also been one that has mourned and celebrated the work of women in government. On this day in 2002, the world gathered in London the commemorate the life of Queen Elizabeth during her funeral, and just 2 years ago in 2018, US Senator Tammy Duckworth became the first senator to give birth while in office.

Today in 1963 the U.S. did something it had never done in its history. They made former Great Britain Prime Minister Winston Churchill the first honorary U.S. Citizen.

Sports History

April 9th maybe the biggest day in basement history throughout the sports history. We’ll start going back to 1912 where Fenway Park hosted its first exhibition game between the Red Sox and Harvard University. A year later in 1913, the Brooklyn Dodgers storied Ebbets Field opens, seeing the Phillies walk off with a 1-0 win.

Skipping ahead half a century, we arrive to the 1960’s where April 9th continued to be a good day for baseball history. In 1965, the infamous Astrodome opens for its first game, the Astros beat the Yankees 2-1. One year later in 1966, the California (now Los Angeles) Angeles opened up Anaheim Stadium. Moving from Texas to California, we arrive at our last history checkpoint, 1993 Colorado. This day in 1993, the Colorado Rockies played their first home game, and recorded their first ever win as a franchise

Tune in next week for another history lesson, class dismissed.

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