Today in History - History - October 1st

1961Roger Maris sets record of 61 HRs (off of Tracy Stallard)

1908Jack Chesbro's final Higlander victory, beats Walter Johnson 2-1

1814Opening of the Congress of Vienna, intended to redraw the Europe's political map after the defeat of Napoléon Bonaparte the previous spring.

1924Paavo Nurmi runs world record 4 mile (19:15.4) & 5 mile (24:06.2)

1988Mikhail Gorbachev becomes Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet and thus head of state of the Soviet Union

1989Beth Daniel wins LPGA Konica San Jose Golf Classic

331 BCAlexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of Gaugamela.

1972Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Portland Ladies Golf Classic

1833Charles Darwin reaches Rio Tercero Argentina

1994South African President Nelson Mandela visits US

1924Jimmy Carter, Plains, Georgia, 39th US President (D) (1977-81)

1935Julie Andrews, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, actress/singer (Sound of Music, Mary Poppins)

1963Mark McGwire, Pomona California, MLB 1st baseman (AL rookie of year 1988, Oakland A's, St. Louis Cardinals)

1930Richard Harris, Ireland, actor (Man Called Horse)/singer (MacArthur Park)

2006Baseball player Darryl Strawberry (44) weds Tracy Boulware

1984Actress Sigourney Weaver (34) weds filmmaker Jim Simpson (28)

1884Politician William Jennings Bryan (24) weds Mary sweetheart Elizabeth Baird

1994Actress Whoopi Goldberg (38) weds labor union organizer Lyle Trachtenberg in California

1985E. B. White, US author (New Yorker, Charlotte's Web), dies at 86

1972Louis Leakey, English anthropologist, dies at 68