Baltimore Orioles ironman Cal Ripken Jr, a popular 19-time AllStar who broke one of baseball’s most coveted records for consecutive games played, closed out his illustrious career before a sell-out crowd of dignitaries, politicians and adoring fans in Baltimore. Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig, former US President Bill Clinton, a host of Baltimore Hall of Famers, author and Orioles investor Tom Clancy were among those who paid tribute to Ripken in ceremonies prior to the Orioles’ season finale against the Boston Red Sox. Selig said the 41-year-old Ripken, “one of the greatest players of our generation,” has secured a spot in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. He said when Ripken broke Lou Gehrig’s mark of 2,130 consecutive games played in 1995, he “became the symbol for the American work ethic and a symbol for the American working man. He also became a symbol for everything that is great about the game of baseball. “In a time when we needed a hero, Cal Ripken was there for us,” he added.
Other important events:
1866 John and Simeon Reno stage the first train robbery in US history.
1889 The Moulin Rouge in Paris opens its doors to the public.
1918 The French occupy Beirut in the Ottoman Empire.
1928 Chiang Kai-shek becomes Chairman of the Republic of China.
1937 Japanese aggression in China is condemned by the League of Nations.
1949 Japanese-American broadcaster Iva Toguri D’Aquino, known as Tokyo Rose, is sentenced to 10 years in prison for treason.
1951 W.K. Kellogg, American breakfast cereal manufacturer, dies.
1953 Britain sends forces to British Guiana to prevent a coup by communists.
1972 A train derails and catches fire near Saltillo, Mexico, killing 208.
1973 Egypt and Syria launch a surprise attack on Israel as it observes Yom Kippur.
1976 Cubana de Aviación Flight 455 crashes in Bridgetown, Barbados. All 78 people on board are killed.
1979 Pope John Paul II becomes the first pontiff to visit the White House.
1981 Egyptian President Anwar Sadat is assassinated during a military parade.
1986 Soviet nuclear-powered submarine K-219 sinks in the Atlantic Ocean following an explosion.
1987 Fiji becomes a republic.
1987 Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak wins a thumping 97 per cent referendum vote to lead the nation for the next six years.
1989 Typhoon Angela kills 118 people on northern coast of Luzon, Philippines.
1996 Yao Wenyaun, the last surviving member of China’s Gang of Four, is freed from prison.
1997 Freed Hamas founder Shaikh Ahmad Yassin returns in triumph to Gaza.
1999 Overwhelmed by the rising waters of the Niger River, officials open the floodgates of two major dams.
2000 Vojislav Kostunica is elected as president of Yugoslav.
2003 Israel attacks Syria, the first air raid in 30 years deep inside the country.
2005 UAE and Turkey sign a $5 billion (Dh18.36 billion) joint cooperation agreement in Istanbul.
2009 Greece’s new socialist Prime Minister George Papandreou is sworn into office.
2012 Algeria’s former president Chadli Bendjedid dies of cancer, aged 83.
2013 At least 15 people are killed when Islamists clash with police in Egypt.
2015 Two people are killed as a gunman goes on rampage at Al Rajhi Bank in the Saudi region of Jizan.
