1943

This is a periscope view of a torpedoed Japanese destroyer by an American Submarine in 1943, in the South Pacific.

The Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Browns played four consecutive extra-inning games (May 31 and June 2) totaling forty-five innings. Both leagues combined to set a Major League record for overtime activity with ninety-one extra-innings in the American League and eighty in the National.

New York Yankees outfielder Roy Weatherly caught ten separate fly balls in a single game on April 28th and then went on to repeat the performance on June 12th. In doing so, he became the first outfielder in Major League history to record ten putouts in a game — twice in one season. Major League Baseball approved a new "official" ball that was comprised of reclaimed cork and balata, which were two suitable materials that were not needed in the war effort. Officials insisted that the ball would have the resiliency of the old version, but players later complained of an inability to drive the "overripe grapefruits" and pointed out the lack of home runs as a result. Oh Ya the Yankees won the series over St. Louis. Go Boston!






Silly Putty - 1943 James Wright working for the General Electric laboratories had produced a synthetic, pliable rubber that was cheap and useful for a lot of small jobs as a caulking and molding medium. Note: it wasn't called silly putty until later on. In 1956 I went to the Boy Scout National Jamboree at Valley Forge and I remember being in Grand Central Station waiting for a bus and a bunch of us bought Silly Putty. We made balls of it and were bouncing them off the walls and ceiling of the biggest building I had ever been in. And you thought Boy Scouts was just about rubbing sticks together. Ha


Colossus, an electronic digital computer, cracks German wartime codes – 1943. At this point in time, the war in the pacific was not really going our way. In July the war in Europe was starting to change as the Allies invade Sicily. 13 United State Submarines went on Eternal Patrol in this year.

June 10th FDR signs withholding tax bill into law (this is W-2 Day!). This reminds me that I have not sent my W-2's in yet. Right after the posting is finished. Otto Stern won the Nobel Prize in physics for this year., 1943 - Frank Sinatra appears at The Paramount causing a mob scene of hysterical bobby-soxers to flood Times Square and blocking midtown New York City traffic for hours. He also became a regular featured artist on the Radio show Your Hit Parade.

It was a dubious time, at best, to be born. I remember seeing a baby photo of me, in my crib, with an American flag tacked over the crib. I was a patriotic baby then and I still am. A lot has happened since 1943 and a lot of young people have died to keep us free in the meantime. Let us not forget them. God Bless America