Italian Explorer Christopher Columbus
(born between 25 August and 31 October 1451,
died 20 May 1506)

The United States Naval Academy opened in Annapolis, Maryland,
with 50 midshipmen students and seven professors. Known as the
Naval School until 1850, the curriculum included mathematics and navigation, gunnery and steam, chemistry, English, French along
with natural philosophy.

The Naval School officially became the U.S. Naval Academy in 1850,
and a new curriculum went into effect, requiring midshipmen to
study at the academy for four years and to train aboard ships each
summer—the basic format that remains at the academy to this day. 

Stetson is a brand of hat manufactured by the John B. Stetson
Company.

Stetson‘s inspiration for his most famous hats was gained when
headed west from his native New Jersey for health reasons. On
his return east in 1865 he founded the John B. Stetson Company
in Philadelphia and created a hat that has become symbolic of
the pioneering American West, the “Boss of the Plains”. This
Western hat would become the cornerstone of Stetson’s hat
business and is still in production today.

John Batterson Stetson
(May 5, 1830 – February 18, 1906)

On Oct. 8, 1956, Don Larsen of the New York Yankees (above) threw
the only perfect game in World Series history. “I was so happy. I felt
like crying,” he tells reporters after New York’s 2-0 win in Game 5
over the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Yankees went on to win the World
Series in seven games.

By 1956, Larsen had pitched for three teams in four seasons, the
low point being his 3-21 won-loss record with the lowly Baltimore
Orioles in 1954. Although he settled down in New York—he was a
combined 20-7 in 1955 and 1956—Larsen did not pitch well in
Game 2 of the 1956 Series. In the second inning at Ebbets Field,
the Dodgers knocked Larsen from the game in their 13-8 win.

Larsen didn’t know he would start Game 5 three days later until he
found a fresh baseball in one of his cleats in the locker room—that
was Yankees manager Casey Stengel’s way of telling a pitcher
that it was his day to pitch.

Don James Larsen (August 7, 1929 – January 1, 2020)