1869 – With 10 salaried players, Cincinnati Red Stockings become baseball’s first professional team.
1892 – New York State unveils automatic ballot booth (voting machines)
1912 – Legendary pitcher Cy Young retires from baseball with a 511-315 win-loss record.
1922 – 1st southern radio station begins (WSB, Atlanta, Georgia)
1930 – 1st streamlined submarine of the US Navy, USS Nautilus, launched.
1937 – 1st state contraceptive clinic opens in Raleigh, North Carolina.
1945 – 17th Academy Awards: “Going My Way”, Bing Crosby & Ingrid Bergman win.
1950 – NYC hires Dr. Wallace E. Howell as its official “rainmaker”
1954 – “CBS Morning Show” premieres with Walter Cronkite & Jack Paar.
1956 – “My Fair Lady” opens at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC for 2,715 performances.
1962 – Wilt Chamberlain is 1st to score 4,000 points in an NBA season.
1972 – “The Godfather”, based on the book by Mario Puzo, directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Marlon Brando and al Pacino, premieres in NYC (Academy Awards Best Picture 1973)
1985 – Larry Holmes TKOs David Bey in 10 for heavyweight boxing title.
1989 – Department of Veterans Affairs officially established as a Cabinet position.
1991 – 4 officers of the Los Angeles Police Department are charged with excessive force over the beating of Rodney King.
2001 – The world’s largest oil rig, located off Brazil and operated by Petrobras, suffers three explosions.
2009 – 56th ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament: #9 Duke beats #22 Florida State, 79-69.
2017 – Disney refuses to cut gay moments in the film “Beauty and the Beast” for Malaysian censors, instead pulls the film from Malaysia.
2018 – Toy chain Toys R Us announces it will close all its stores after filing for bankruptcy.
2020 – Federal Reserve slashes interest rates to near zero to support the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic.