Lefty Grove, Ted Williams, and the 1941 Red Sox

They say the third time’s a charm.  And so it was with Lefty Grove’s 300th victory, which occurred on July 25, 1941, against the Cleveland Indians.  “Here the hundreds of fans who had been waiting for this moment ever since it became possible for...

Savannah’s Bananas

When James Oglethorpe led the settling of Savannah, Georgia in 1733, he used a geometric shape for the layout—squares.  Robert Johnson has the distinction of the first square being named after him; Johnson—South Carolina’s colonial governor—and Oglethorpe were...

56 Games

Joe DiMaggio once declared, “I’d like to thank the good Lord for making me a Yankee.”  When the Yankee Clipper stepped into the batter’s box, denizens of the Bronx felt the same way. In May 1941, Americans watched the premiere of Orson...

Archie Andrews: The Beginning

Popular culture loves its icons.  Archie Andrews is one of them. He doesn’t have superpowers like Superman or Spiderman. He’s not a vigilante like Batman or the Lone Ranger. He can’t save the universe like Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers. He’s just...

Hollywood and the Homefront

Warner Brothers churned out animation during World War II like an assembly line.  Its animated short films injected optimism into the American spirit. In Super Rabbit (1943), Bugs Bunny takes on the persona of the title character, a parody of Superman.  He battles the...