FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

Reginald Martinez Jackson (born May 18, 1946) is an American former professional baseball right fielder who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City / Oakland Athletics, Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees, and California Angels. Jackson was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1993.

Jackson was nicknamed “Mr. October” for his clutch hitting in the postseason with the Athletics and the Yankees. He helped Oakland win five consecutive American League West divisional titles, three straight American League pennants and three consecutive World Series titles from 1972 to 1974. Jackson helped New York win four American League East divisional pennants, three American League pennants and back to back World Series titles, in 1977 and 1978. He also helped the California Angels win two AL West divisional titles in 1982 and 1986. Jackson hit three consecutive home runs at Yankee Stadium in the clinching game six of the 1977 World Series.

Jackson hit 563 career home runs and was an American League (AL) All-Star for 14 seasons. He won two Silver Slugger Awards, the AL Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award in 1973, two World Series MVP Awards and the Babe Ruth Award in 1977. The Yankees and Athletics retired his team uniform number in 1993 and 2004. Jackson currently serves as a special advisor to the Houston Astros, and a sixth championship associated with Jackson came with Houston’s win in the 2022 World Series.

Jackson led his teams to first place ten times over his 21-year baseball career and suffered only two losing seasons.

TODAY’S ALMANAC

Twelfth Night

In the olden days, the festivities of Christmas lasted twelve days, which was the time supposed to have been taken by the three wise men or kings in their journey to Bethlehem.

The final evening (January 5) was called “Twelfth Night” and marked the end of Christmas festivities and, in ancient Celtic tradition, the end of the 12-day winter solstice celebration.

On this night, it was customary for the assembled company to toast each other from the wassail bowl. In Old English, wassail means “Be in good health,” but the term came to be applied to the drink itself (usually spiced ale). See our recipe for wassail on our Web site! It was also traditional to cook the most wonderful pastries, cakes, and pies. Some included practical jokes. The “four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie” was no myth. Live birds were placed in a cooked pastry crust. When guests cut into the pie, the birds flew about the room which delighted all. A kinder tradition included placing bread soaked with cider in tree branches for the birds to eat.

In the ancient times of the Roman Saturnalia, the “king of the feast” was elected by beans, and the Twelfth Night cakes included a bean—or, later, a ring or coin. Whoever was given the slice with the prize became the queen and king for the night and much parading and merriment followed.

In the church calendar, Twelfth Night is the evening before Epiphany (January 6). Because the three wise men (or kings) arrived in Bethlehem bearing gifts for the infant Jesus, Epiphany is also called Three Kings Day and a traditional time of gift giving. “

Question of the Day

Where does the word “turnpike” come from?

Early American roads were often privately owned and maintained. To travel on them, you had to pay a toll at the tollhouse, after which you were allowed to pass through the turnstile — a pike (or pole) on an axle similar to those in modern subway stations. The amount you paid could vary, depending on the type of wagon or carriage you had, the animals drawing it, and so on.

Advice of the Day

Holly berries shining red, Mean a long winter, ‘tis said.

Home Hint of the Day

To cure a dog of chewing on his paws when he gets bored, paint the spot he likes to chew with oil of cloves (available at drugstores).

Word of the Day

Bamboozle

To deceive by trickery; to cajole by confusing the senses; to hoax; to mystify; to humbug.

Puzzle of the Day

What is the beginning of all eternities, the end of time and space, the beginning of every end, and the end of every race?

The letter E.

Born

• Zebulon Montgomery Pike (explorer) – 1779
• King C. Gillette (inventor) – 1855
• Herbert Bayard Swope (journalist) – 1882
• Yves Tanguy (artist) – 1900
• Myrtle Alice Cook McGowan (athlete) – 1902
• Jane Wyman (actress) – 1917
• Sam Phillips (record company executive) – 1923
• William Dewitt Snodgrass (poet) – 1926
• Alvin Ailey (dancer) – 1931
• Robert Duvall (actor) – 1931
• Diane Keaton (actress) – 1946
• Bradley Cooper (actor) – 1975

Died

• Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (explorer) – 1922
• Calvin Coolidge (30th U.S. president) – 1933
• George Washington Carver (educator) – 1943
• Charlie Mingus (musician) – 1979
• Pistol Pete Maravich (basketball player) – 1988
• Thomas Tip” O’Neill” (Speaker of the House) – 1994
• Sonny Bono (actor, mayor of Palm Springs, and U.S. Congressman) – 1998
• Tug McGraw (baseball player) – 2004
• Jean-Paul L’Allier (Quebec City mayor) – 2016
• Jerry Van Dyke (actor) – 2018

Events

• First divorce granted in the American Colonies– 1643
• New Hampshire was the first state to adopt a constitution– 1776
• A British naval expedition led by Benedict Arnold burned Richmond, Virginia– 1781
• The word hamburger first appeared in print in the Walla Walla Union, Walla Walla, Washington– 1889
• The first successful photo of an aurora was made by physicist Martin Brendel– 1892
• First Trans-Pacific (California to Hawaii) cable opened to public use– 1903
• Fannie Farmer’s last lecture– 1915
• Nellie Taylor Ross of Wyoming became first woman governor in American history– 1925
• Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge began in San Francisco, California– 1933
• United Mine Workers official Joseph A. Yablonski and his wife and daughters were found slain in their Clarksville, Pennsylvania home– 1970
• President Nixon ordered NASA to begin work on a manned space shuttle– 1972
• Arkansas law requiring creationism to be taught in public schools struck down by Federal court– 1982
• President Ronald Reagan submitted the first $1 trillion budget to Congress– 1987
• Reggie Jackson elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame – 1993
• Robert Nuranen returned a library book he had checked out for a 9th-grade assignment, along with a check for 47 year’s worth of late fees—$171.32– 2007
• World’s highest cable-stayed bridge opened spanning a deep ravine in the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains– 2012

Weather

• Twenty degrees below zero F, Hanover, New Hampshire– 1822
• Record cold morning in East: -24 degrees F in New Haven, Connecticut, and -40 degrees F in the Berkshire Hills– 1835
• Severe Artic outbreak: Des Moines -30 degrees F, Indianapolis -25 degrees F– 1884
• Eleven degrees F in Athens, Georgia– 1981

COURTESY www.almanac.com