Today in History - History - May 6th

1915Red Sox Babe Ruth pitching debut & 1st HR, loses to Yanks 4-3 in 15

1940Pulitzer prize awarded to John Steinbeck (Grapes of Wrath)

1938Dutch writer Maurits Dekker sentenced to 50 days for "offending a friendly head of state" (Hitler)

1941Joseph Stalin became premier of Russia

1925Ty Cobb hits his 5th HR in 2 games tying Cap Ansons record of 1884

1682Louis XIV of France moves his court to Versailles.

1994Nelson Mandela and the ANC, finally confirmed winners in South Africa's first post apartheid election

1998Kerry Wood strikes out 20 Houston Astros to tie the major league record held by Roger Clemens. He threw a one-hitter and did not walk a batter in his 5th career start.

1864US Civil War: Battle of Wilderness - Confederate General longstreet seriously injured

1979Nancy Lopez wins LPGA Women's International Golf Tournament

1961George Clooney, Lexington Kentucky, actor (Dr Douglas Ross-ER, Batman)

1895Rudolph Valentino, Castellaneta Italy, sheik/actor (Eagle)

1931Willie Mays, Westfield Alabama, baseball centerfielder (Giants, NY Mets), "Say Hey Kid" (660 HRs, MVP 1954)

1972Martin Brodeur, Montreal Quebec, NHL goalie (NJ Devils, Team Canada)

1856Sigmund Freud, Freiberg in Mähren, Moravia, Austrian neurologist and father of psychology, (d. 1939)

1915Orson Welles [George], Kenosha Wisc, actor (Citizen Kane, War of the Worlds), (d. 1985)

1950Elizabeth Taylor (18) marries for the 1st time to hotel heir Conrad "Nicky" Hilton (23)

1987Actor Yun Fat Chow (31) weds Jasmine Tan

2000Actor Noah Wyle (28) weds makeup artist Tracy Warbin

1975Actor Sean Connery (44) weds Micheline Roquebrune in Casablanca

1987William J Casey, director of CIA (1981-87), dies at 73

1862Henry David Thoreau, US writer/pacifist (Walden Pond), dies at 44

1992Marlene Dietrich, [Maria Losch], actress (Angel), dies in Paris at 90

1952Maria Montessori, Italian physician/educationist, dies at 81

1949Maurice Maeterlinck, Belgian philosopher (Nobel 1911), dies at 86

1859Alexander von Humboldt, German naturalist, dies at 89