The sultan of swat, the king of crash, the collossus of clout...The Great Bambino!

June 2nd
I just wanted that as my headline today. On this day in 1935 Babe Ruth retired. He hit a lot of homeruns, he was a great pitcher, he was part of a curse on Boston. Larger than life in many regards. Here's to you George Herman Ruth.

Interestingly enough, president Grover Cleveland became to only president to get married at the White House on this day in 1886. He married a 21 year old named Frances Folsom who soon became the most popular woman in America. Frances' parents were good friends with the soon-to-be president and when her father died, Cleveland became the legal guardian of Frances. He married her ten years later. Scandal!?!?! Nope, par for the course I guess in 1886. They went on to have 5 children, one of them named Ruth. Her national nickname for Cleveland's second term in office was "Baby Ruth".

This day in 1924 marks a very bitter sweet day for Native Americans as they were finally given citizenship in the United States as long as they were born here. After being pushed around, lied to, murdered, raped, and having 98% of their land stolen from them, this was almost a slap in the face. But it paved the way for later generations of Native Americans to do more with what little they had left. It seems everyone I know claims to have a little bit of tribal blood in them, and good for them. I would be proud to say that too. As far as I know I do not, though.
And on this day in 1962 Ray Charles took country music to the masses with his third #1 hit, "I can't stop loving you". That's right, country music. Ray Charles. This song came off his album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music. Willie Nelson was quoted as saying before Charles died in 2004  "(he) did more for country music than any other living human being". Alluding to the fact that some of the great country music pioneers were dead at the time, yet at the same time praising a blind African American for helping his genre of music.