Chicago Cubs history unpacked — July 31

Free of charge for the discerning reader.

Happy birthday to Leon Durham, and a mighty host of others.

Today in baseball history, in 2005 – Among thousands of high-spirited Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs fans and the 48 Hall of Famers sitting on the dais, Wade Boggs and Ryne Sandberg are enshrined into the Baseball Hall of Fame, and other stories as well.

Today in baseball history:

1891 – At New York, Giants’ fireballer Amos Rusie walks 8 batters and hits another, but still no-hits the visiting Grooms to claim a 6-0 shutout victory. This will be the first of four 30-win seasons for the 20 year-old, and the second of four times that he leads the NL in both strikeouts and walks. Rusie remains the youngest pitcher to record a no-hit game.
1973 – The Reds sweep a pair from the Braves, winning, 9-5, in the opener, then scoring five runs in the 9th to take the nightcap, 13-11. Joe Morgan totals three homers and seven RBIs for the afternoon.

Today in Cubs history:

1970 – The Reds lose a doubleheader to the visiting Cubs, 7-1 and 11-7, and lose rookie star Wayne Simpson, who tears the rotary cuff in his pitching arm. Simpson will come back, but will never be the same, going 22-28 in the rest of his career.

Cubs Birthdays: René Rivera, Mike Bielecki, Leon Durham*, Earl Stephenson, Bill Fleming, Art Nehf, Larry Doyle.

Today in history:

1853 – First nighttime surgery performed at Lychakiv Hospital in Lemberg (now Lviv, Ukraine) using new kerosene oil lamps invented by Ignacy Łukasiewicz.
1959 – Cliff Richard and the Shadows have their first British No. 1 single with “Living Doll,” the best-selling British single of 1959.
1969 – Elvis Presley returns to the concert stage for the first time in over eight years, starting a four-week, 57-show run at the newly opened International Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.
1984 – US men’s gymnastics team scores an emotional upset win over the world champion Chinese team in the combined event to take the gold medal at the Los Angeles Olympics.
2012 – Michael Phelps becomes the greatest medal winner in Olympic history as part of the winning American 4 x 200 m freestyle relay team in London, earning his 19th career Olympic medal and 15th overall gold.
2021 – American swimmer Caeleb Dressel wins the 100 m butterfly in a world record time of 49.45 seconds at the Tokyo Olympics and completes the 100 m freestyle/butterfly double.
2021 – American swimming superstar Katie Ledecky wins the women’s 800 m gold for an unprecedented third consecutive Olympics in Tokyo and claims the distance 800/1500 m double.