1873 – P.T. Barnum’s circus, “Greatest Show on Earth”, debuts (New York City)
1911 – Clark Griffith is named manager of Washington Senators.
1919 – Baseball league presidents call for abolishment of spitball.
1938 – A radio broadcast of H.G. Wells “The War of the Worlds”, narrated by Orson Wells, allegedly causes a mass panic.
1945 – Branch Rickey signs Jackie Robinson to a Montreal Royals contract.
1945 – US government announces end of shoe rationing.
1952 – 4th NASCAR Sprint Cup: Tim Flock wins.
1952 – Clarence Birdseye sells first frozen peas.
1963 – Sandy Koufax wins NL MVP award.
1967 – Dolly Parton releases her debut single with Porter Wagoner “The Last Thing On My Mind”
1972 – Worst US rail accident in 14 years; 45 die in Chicago.
1974 – “The Rumble in the Jungle”, Muhammad Ali KOs George Foreman in the 8th round in Kinshasa, Zaire; regains world heavyweight boxing title with famous “rope-a-dope” tactic.
1980 – NASA launches Fit Satcom-4.
1992 – MTA begins installing automated fare collection turnstiles.
1994 – Thomas Nicely reports bug in Intel’s Pentium-processor on the internet.
2012 – Walt Disney purchases Lucasfilm Ltd, and its rights for Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises, for $4.05 billion.
2017 – President Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort and associate Rick Gates are indicted on fraud charges, advisor George Papadopoulos pleads guilty to lying to the FBI.
2018 – US Pentagon sends 5,200 troops to Mexican border in advance of migrant caravan from Central America.
2019 – Twitter head Jack Dorsey announces it will no longer take political ads.