Billy Johnson (the baseball player, not the skier) was born on this day in 1918. Johnson debuted at third base for the New York Yankees in 1943 and had a stellar rookie season, finishing fourth in A.L. MVP voting. (There was no rookie of the year award yet.) Johnson had a nice career, making the All-Star team in 1947.

Unless your name is Keith Olbermann, you’ve probably never heard of him. The problem for Johnson is that he was born on the same day as Ted Williams.

Teddy Ballgame (I always preferred The Splendid Splinter), made 19 All-Star games and is in the argument for greatest hitter of all time.

August 30 tends to have a few, “yeah, buts” in its history.

Omaha native Andy Roddick turns 30 today and is on the last few laps of a tennis career that will finish far short of the expectations American tennis had for him when he started out. It certainly didn’t help Roddick that he happened to play in the same era as Roger Federer. Alas, Roddick isn’t even Omaha’s most celebrated birthday today, as Warren Buffett turns 82. I don’t mean to slight Roddick’s tennis achievements, he won a grand slam title and over 31 tournaments in his career. He’s earned over $31 million in his career. Buffett earns that when he takes out the trash (or whenever whoever takes out his trash, does so). Now, Roddick is married to Brooklyn Decker. Should we call it a draw?

Sixteen-year old Usher released his eponymous first album on this day in 1994 to mixed reviews. What did not get mixed reviews was “Definitely, Maybe” the debut album from Oasis that was released on the same day. The buildup for Oasis’ first record was off the charts, and it debuted at #1 on the British charts and it had the best first week of sales of any album in British history. Propelled by the singles, “Live Forever”, “Supersonic”, “Shakermaker”, and “Cigarettes and Alcohol”, “Definitely, Maybe” received five stars from Rolling Stone and All Music and has made numerous “best ever” album lists. “Slide Away” was slated to be the fifth single released, but it was nixed by Noel Gallagher, who, in the first of probably ten million reasons the Gallagher brothers pissed off labels, managers, agents, etc, pronounced, “You can’t have five fuckin’ singles off a debut album!”

The Rolling Stones released their last five star album on this day in 1981, “Tattoo You”. “Start Me Up” was the first song and lead single and was the Stones last top five single. “Waiting on a Friend” and “Hang Fire” were also hits off the album and belong on anybody’s top 50 Stones songs. (Ok, we can argue about “Hang Fire”, but not the other two.)

Continuing on our, “yeah, but” theme, Tug McGraw was born this day in 1944. Tug was one of the emotional leaders of the 1980 World Champion Philadelphia Phillies and had a fine career as one of the best closers of his era. Yeah, but… Tug had a one night stand with Betty D’Agostinio in 1966 and no further relationship with her. However, a young man was born who grew up to be country music superstar Tim McGraw. Tug never met his son until he was 17-years old, but the two became close after that. Tim’s smash hit, “Live Like You Were Dying” was in honor of his father after Tug was diagnosed with brain cancer.

In a move that raised the collective eyebrow of planet Earth, Bruce Springsteen married model Julianne Phillips in 1985. Yeah, but… Phillips filed for divorce on this day in 1988 after repeated tabloid rumors that Bruce was fooling around with bandmate Patty Scialfa. (Although listening to the 1987 “Tunnel of Love” album for the 100th time was probably her first clue.) When you’re in love with a Jersey girl….

-Bill Hubbell

On this day in 1963 Martin Luther King, Jr., gave his, “I Have a Dream” speech. The 17-minute speech was given on the front steps of the Lincoln Memorial as part of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and was the defining moment of the American Civil Rights Movement. A 1999 group of scholars of public address called it the greatest American speech of the 20th century. (Coach Taylor‘s speech before the state championship had to be in the top five, right?)

The distant runner up for political oratory for August 28th happened in 1957, when Senator Strom Thurmond took to the Senate floor to filibuster to keep the group from voting on the Civil Rights Act of 1957. Thurmond babbled on and on for 24 hours and 18 minutes straight, the longest filibuster ever given by a single senator. There were probably several dreams had in that time.

MLK

It was on this day in 1898 when Caleb Bradham made what we’d have to say was a smart business decision in changing the name of his invented beverage from, “Brad’s Drink” to Pepsi-Cola. Well, it was certainly smarter than “New Coke”. Bradham had invented the beverage earlier in the decade at his drug store in New Bern, North Carolina. He wanted a fountain drink that not only tasted delicious, but would help with digestion and boost energy. Pepsi-Cola was shortened to Pepsi in 1961 and it’s been giving people an energy boost for going on 120 years. Be a smart ass and order a “Brad’s Drink” the next time you’re out.

Things have tended to fall apart on August 28– the Chicago Riots broke out at the Democratic Convention in 1968, the collapse of the old Soviet Union became official in 1991 when Mikhail Gorbachev resigned his position as General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party, and five years after that the divorce of Prince Charles and Princess Diana became official.

Arnold Palmer was 24 years old when he won the U.S. Amateur in 1954, and 40 years later to the day, Tiger Woods won the Amateur for the first of three consecutive years at age 18. In 1972 Mark Spitz won his first two of seven gold medals at the Munich Olympics. This day in 1977 was the last official game played by Pele, who helped lead the New York Cosmos to the NASL Championship in a thrilling 2-1 win over the Seattle Sounders. It could be argued that this game was the peak of soccer in the United States as the NASL took more of a hold on the U.S. sporting public than it ever had before or sense. The Cosmos were a loaded team of European All-Stars, but Seattle was lead by the sterling play of goal keeper Tony Chumsky, who stopped both Pele and Franz Beckenbauer on free kicks. Giorgio Chinaglia’s header goal with 13 minutes remaining was the difference for the Cosmos.

We’ll give first runner up for athletic achievement on this day to Sebastian Coe, who set the world record for the mile in 1981 with a time of 3:47:33. What’s remarkable about that is that Coe’s mark was the third time the record in the mile had been broken in 10 days. Coe had set a new mark 10 days previous, but his time had been bested by countryman Steve Ovett just days later. That must not have sit well with Coe, who went back out and got his record back.

Sebastian Coe

All those feats pale in comparison to what 12 year-old Lloyd McClendon did in 1971. Yes, this is the McClendon who went on to a big league career and later managed the Pittsburgh Pirates. McClendon hit a 3-run HR in his first at bat in the Little League World Series championship game against Chinese Taipei, prompting the Chinese manager to order McClendon walked for the rest of the game. Now get this: for the three games McClendon played at the Little League World Series, he was walked five times and pitched to five times. When he was pitched to, he was five for five with five home runs, all on the first pitch.

He must have been drinking a lot of Pepsi-Cola.

Birthday wishes to Lou Piniella and David Soul who were both born this day in 1943. I think Piniella would hang out with Hutch, but not the guy who sang, “Don’t Give Up On Us”. Having said that, Soul did turn down a professional baseball contract when he was 19. Also, Shania Twain turns 47 today. Which is as good a reason as any for a picture of Shania Twain.

– Bill Hubbell

When recalling August 27ths gone by, it would be silly to start anywhere but 1883, when the volcanic islands of Krakotoa exploded. The eruption is considered to be the loudest sound in modern history, with reports of it being heard as many as 3,000 miles away. (I’m calling BS, but I heard once you can’t argue with history.)  The explosion of the island killed over 36,000 people and was the equivalent of 200 megatons of TNT, or 13,000 times the nuclear yield put off by the bombing of Hiroshima. The eruption sent debris 50 miles into the air.

Thought to be not quite as seminal as Krakotoa, and of course not nearly as important because nobody died and Krakotoa’s lead singer was a heroin addict, Pearl Jam released their debut album “10” on this day in 1991. The name of the album was taken from the number worn by former NBAer Mookie Blaylock, which was the name of the band when they started to record the album. After taking nearly a year to sell any copies at all, “10” has now sold over 13 million and led Pearl Jam to being the most popular U.S. band of the 1990s. Once, Even Flow, Alive, Why Go, Black and Jeremy…. there’s not a lot of debut albums that had a first half hour any better than that.

On this day in 1953, the world was introduced to a young actress by the name of Audrey Hepburn, with the release of “Roman Holiday”. The role of the royal princess who sets out to see Rome on her own was originally written for Elizabeth Taylor, but given to the unknown Hepburn after she screen tested out of the park. Hepburn was to receive lower billing than co-star Gregory Peck, but Peck demanded she be given equal billing after working with her. Hepburn won the Academy Award for best actress.

What was to be an event on the scale of Krakotoa took place in Beverly Hills on this day in 1965. The Beatles met Elvis Presley for the first time at his mansion. The meeting was less than cataclysmic as the boys were stoned and Elvis was strumming a bass guitar in the dark. Both sides seemed to be a bit intimidated by the other and nothing much happened. Elvis intimidated? John Lennon intimidated?

Part of the charm and poetry of baseball lies in its numbers and statistical anomalies. You can go huge, like Rickey Henderson did on this day in 1982, stealing his 119th base of the season, breaking Lou Brock’s record, or you can go weird. 35 years ago today, Bump Wills and Toby Harrah hit inside the park home runs for the Texas Rangers on back to back pitches, the only time that’s happened in MLB’s 143 years.

A Vice Presidential day it is, as birthday’s are celebrated by three US Veeps, Hannibal Hamlin, Charles G. Dawes and Lyndon Johnson. They served under Abraham Lincoln, Calvin Coolidge and John F. Kennedy. You think Sarah Palin wasn’t vetted properly? Lincoln never met his running mate Hamlin until after the election. Hamlin comes in as runner up for coolest name for August 27th birthdays, losing out to Daryl Dragon, who turns 70 today. No, he wasn’t the star of a precursor to Magic Mike, he just goes by another moniker. He’s the one wearing the hat, not the mom jeans.

And, YO, we’d be remiss if we didn’t throw a shout out to Aaron Paul, who turns 33 today.

33 is the same age we lost two geniuses in 1980 and then 1981. Douglas Kenney created the National Lampoon just after graduating from Harvard and co-wrote both Animal House and Caddyshack. That was it for his movie career, I’d call that batting a thousand. Kenney fell off a cliff in Hawaii, while trying to get his mind straight after Caddyshack was killed by critics. The Lampoon paid tribute with a cartoon of the edge of a cliff and the inscription, “Doug Kenney Slipped Here.” A car crash took Soviet hockey star Valeri Kharlamov in 1981. Kharlamov was one of the fastest skaters ever and the best player on the ice when Russia took on Canada in the famed 1972 Summit Series. Canada was stunned by the Soviets at the start of the series, which changed when Broad Street Bully Bobby Clarke took things into his own hands, breaking Kharlamov’s ankle.

And lastly, speaking of genius, Stevie Ray Vaughn died at just 35 years old, in a helicopter crash in 1990.

– Bill Hubbell

Today is the 707th anniversary of the day Sir William Wallace was put to death in London. Wallace’s story was told in in Mel Gibson’s brilliant 1995 film, Braveheart. Those who knew Wallace say he wasn’t quite as good looking as Gibson, but far less of a dick.

“They can take away our lives, but they can never take away our seven Tour de France wins…or something like that.”

River Phoenix was born on this day in 1970, and later that same night, the Velvet Underground played their last gig with Lou Reed, at Max’s Kansas City in Manhattan. The unheralded, (or was it heralded but under-loved?) group’s set was probably this day’s most notorious NYC event (quick, name a Velvet Underground song… ok, under-loved for sure) until 1988 when the Heavyweight Champion of the World got into a fistfight in broad daylight outside of a store in Harlem. Mike Tyson had beaten up Mitch “Blood” Green in their 1986 fight, but the afternoon brawl was far more entertaining. Complete with all the pre-fight trash talking, Green jumped over a car to take a shot at Iron Mike and Tyson broke his hand landing a straight right to Green’s nose.

Birthday wishes also go out to two young men turning 34 today, and talk amongst yourselves as to who has the better stroke: Kobe Bryant and Julian Casablancas. As lead singer of The Strokes, Casablancas was NYC’s “it” boy a decade ago, and the city may not have had such a collective crush until last winter, when Jeremy Lin had his bite out of the Apple. Lin turns 24 today, and, like Casablancas is to New Yorkers just somebody that I used to know.

Somebody who we should all still certainly know is Bob Feller. On this day in 1936, Feller took the mound in Cleveland as a 17-year old rookie and fanned 15 St. Louis Browns in a 4-1 win. 17 years old! Do you think the mass media of today would have had a field day with that at all? Skip Bayless would have claimed he was on roids and the twitterverse would have debated what his innings limit should be.

It dawns on me that kids starting college next week have no idea who River Phoenix is. That’s probably fine, but they should certainly know who Bob Feller is.

Finally, a shout out to Julio Franco, who turns 1,004 today and is leading off and playing second base for the New York Mets. (He’s 54 and finally retired at 49, the oldest regular position player of all time. And although he’s not starting for the Mets tonight, he probably should be.)