Daily Almanac for Saturday, October 2022

On this date in 2008, The Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series. It’s ironic because they are currently playing the Houston Astros presently in the 2022 World Series

FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

CURRENT 2022 MLB SEASON

The Phillies got off to a sluggish 22–29 start to the 2022 season. On June 3, the Phillies fired manager Joe Girardi and replaced him with bench coach Rob Thomson, who was named the team’s interim manager. The Phillies ended the 2022 season 87-75, reaching the playoffs for the first time since 2011.

In the playoffs, the Phillies defeated the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2022 National League Wild Card Series. They went on to eliminate the defending World Champion Atlanta Braves 3–1 in the 2022 National League Division Series and then eliminated the San Diego Padres 4-1 in the 2022 National League Championship Series to advance to the 2022 World Series, their first World Series appearance since 2009.On October 10, the Phillies also removed the interim role of Thomson and named him the team’s manager.

In the 2022 World Series, the Phillies will face the American League champion Houston Astros in a best of seven World Series that begins October 28 at Minute Maid Park in Houston.

FRANCHISE HISTORY

The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. Since 2004, the team’s home stadium has been Citizens Bank Park, located in the South Philadelphia Sports Complex. Founded in 1883, the Philadelphia Phillies are the oldest continuous same-name, same-city franchise in all of American professional sports.

The Phillies have won two World Series championships (against the Kansas City Royals in 1980 and the Tampa Bay Rays in 2008), eight National League pennants (the first of which came in 1915), and made 15 playoff appearances. As of October 1, 2022, the team has played 21,203 games, winning 10,019 games and losing 11,184.

Since the first modern World Series was played in 1903, the Phillies have played 119 consecutive seasons and 139 seasons since the team’s 1883 establishment. Before the Phillies won their first World Series in 1980, the team went longer than any of the other MLB 16 teams of the first half of the 20th century without a World Series championship. Since the start of the Divisional Era in 1969, however, the Phillies have emerged as one of MLB’s most successful teams, winning 14 division titles (including five consecutive such titles from 2007 to 2011), eight National League pennants, and two World Series championships.

The franchise was founded in Philadelphia in 1883, replacing the team from Worcester, Massachusetts, in the National League. The team has played at several stadiums in the city, beginning with Recreation Park (1883–1886) and continuing at Baker Bowl (1887–1938); Shibe Park (which was renamed Connie Mack Stadium in 1953 in honor of the longtime Philadelphia Athletics manager Connie Mack) (1938–1970); Veterans Stadium (1971–2003), and now Citizens Bank Park (2004-present).

Despite their longevity (and, in part, because of it) and their rabid fan base, the Phillies are a team historically associated with futility, being the first American sports franchise to amass over 10,000 losses; the team holds the world record for most ever losses by a single team in all of professional sports. Yet, also due in part to their longevity, the Phillies also are one of only nine teams to have won over 10,000 games in their history. Hall of Fame third baseman Mike Schmidt is widely considered the franchise’s greatest player of all time. Over the team’s history since 1883, 32 Phillies players have been awarded entry into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

The Philadelphia Phillies’ Triple-A affiliate is the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, who play at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown. The Double-A affiliate is the Reading Fightin Phils, who play in Reading. The Class-A affiliates are the Jersey Shore BlueClaws, who play in Lakewood Township, New Jersey, and the Clearwater Threshers, who play at BayCare Ballpark.

The team’s spring training facilities are in Clearwater, Florida.

TODAY’S ALMANAC

Question of the Day

The trees in our New Hampshire town are covered with ugly cocoonlike things that look as if they’re destroying the foliage. What are these?

Most likely you’re seeing the webs of fall webworms, also called bagworms or eastern tent caterpillars. These can appear from late July through October. The caterpillars are greenish yellow with lots of hair and black dots, and they feed on leaves. As feeding continues, their silken webs enlarge to cover the areas they plan to eat. This can indeed make it look as if the tree is being destroyed. Insecticides can control the worms, but each web must be penetrated for success. Infected branches also can be removed and the caterpillar webs destroyed. Bad as the webs may look, however, the damage they cause is usually minimal, and most leaves will return the following spring.

Advice of the Day

Shine laminated countertops with white vinegar and water.

Home Hint of the Day

Did you run out of toothpaste? Substitute baking soda mixed with a little salt or baking soda mixed with hydrogen peroxide.

Word of the Day

Lunar eclipse

The full Moon enters the shadow of Earth, which cuts off all or part of the Moon’s light. Total: The Moon passes completely through the umbra (central dark part) of Earth’s shadow. Partial: Only part of the Moon passes through the umbra. Penumbral: The Moon passes through only the penumbra (area of partial darkness surrounding the umbra).

Puzzle of the Day

When is a clock guilty of a misdemeanor?

When it strikes one.

Born

  • James Boswell (biographer) – 1740
  • Daniel Decatur Emmett (songwriter, musician) – 1815
  • Fred Lazarus, Jr. (merchandiser) – 1884
  • Fanny Brice (singer & comedienne) – 1891
  • Melba Moore (singer) – 1945
  • Richard Dreyfuss (actor) – 1947
  • Kate Jackson (actress) – 1948
  • Mike Gartner (hockey player) – 1959
  • Joely Fisher (actress) – 1967
  • Winona Ryder (actress) – 1971
  • Gabrielle Union (actress) – 1973
  • Ben Foster (actor) – 1980
  • Amanda Beard (Olympic swimmer) – 1981

Died

  • Joseph Pulitzer (journalist) – 1911
  • Chang Lin-Tien (first Asian-American to head a major U.S. university when he was named chancellor at the University of California at Berkeley) – 2002

Events

  • First commencement of first U.S. coeducational college (Oberlin) took place– 1834
  • Black Tuesday at the NY Stock Exchange—Great Depression began– 1929
  • The first peacetime draft in U.S. history went into effect– 1940
  • The first ballpoint pens went on sale at Gimbel’s Department store in N.Y.C. at $12.50 a piece– 1945
  • Boris Pasternak refused the Nobel Prize for literature under pressure from Soviet authorities– 1958
  • A spectacular gem robbery took place in New York’s American Museum of Natural History. The greatest loss was the Star of India, the largest sapphire in the world– 1964
  • John Glenn returned to space at age 77– 1998
  • A 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck southwestern Pakistan– 2008
  • The Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series– 2008
  • A man paddled a 1,364-pound pumpkin down the River Ouse in Yorkshire, England– 2018
  • The Friends for Life animal shelter in Houston, Texas, posted a story on Facebook about their escape artist cat named Quilty, who repeatedly freed friends from the shelter’s cat room. The talented kitty gained Internet fame and his story was picked up by the news media. He later was adopted.– 2019

Weather

  • A deadly tornado struck Berryville, Arkansas– 1942
  • A snow hurricane occurred in Maine– 1963
  • Typhoon Cimaron battered the northern Philippines with winds up to 143 mph– 2006

COURTESY www.almanac.com