April 23rd In History
New Coke, better than Old Coke
The last time I wrote about a day in history it was January 24, 1935 and it was the day that beer first became available in a can. Read about that big day here. Today in history, another big beverage day occurred-“New” Coke was launched. I have highlighted some of the events below. To read the full list click here.
- 2011 In England, the guest list for the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton is released
- 1997 “Titanic,” opens at Lunt-Fontanne Theater New York City
- 1996 Sotherby begins 4 day auction of Jackie Onassis things nets $34.5 million
- 1992 McDonald’s opens its 1st fast-food restaurant in China
- 1991 U.S.S.R. grants republics right to secede under certain conditions
- 1989 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar plays his last game as a Laker
- 1989 Nolan Ryan blows a no hitter in 9th inning
- 1985 Coca-Cola announced it is changing its secret flavor formula
- 1984 AIDS-virus identified, acquired immune deficiency syndrome
- 1978 Reds Joe Morgan ends record streak of 91 cons errorless games at 2nd
- 1972 Apollo 16 astronauts explores Moon surface
- 1969 Los Angeles Laker Jerry West scores 53 points
- 1962 1st U.S. satellite to reach the moon launched
- 1958 Gil Hodges hits his 300th home run and Pee Wee Reese plays in 2,000th game
- 1956 U.S. Supreme Court ends race segregation on buses
- 1954 Hammerin’ Hank Aaron hits 1st of his 755 homers
- 1950 4th NBA Championship: Minnesota Lakers beat Syracuse Nationals, 4 games to 2
- 1939 Boston Red Sox Ted Williams hits his 1st home run
- 1900 1st know occurrence of word “hillbillie” (New York Journal)
- 1896 Vitascope system of movie projection 1st demonstrated (New York City)
- 1881 Gilbert and Sullivan’s opera “Patience” produced in London
- 1867 Queen Victoria and Napoleon III turn down plans for a channel tunnel
- 1851 Canada issues its 1st postage stamps
- 1789 President-elect George Washington moves into Franklin House, New York
Granted my list is heavily loaded with sports trivia but I find it interesting that Ted Williams and Hank Aaron both hit the first home run of their respective major league careers on April 23rd though 15 years apart. Ted Williams was arguably the best hitter in baseball and Hank Aaron is the Home run king*. Between them they hit 1,276 home runs. That’s a lot of dingers!
Despite many historically significant happenings on the list, I think the most notable is the change to the secret formula of coca-cola. If not the launch of “New Coke” as most historically significant then the first known use of the word hillbillie gets my vote.
Have a great week armed with lots of valuable information from the events occurring on April 23rd in history.
*Reportedly someone else hit more home runs but I prefer to not acknowledge that cheating cheater in my baseball world.
