Today is Friday, Oct. 18, the 292nd day of 2024. There are 74 days left in the year.
Today in history
On Oct. 18, 1977, Reggie Jackson hit three home runs in Game 6 of the World Series to lead the New York Yankees to an 8-4 win and a 4-2 Series victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers; his success in the Fall Classic earned him the nickname “Mr. October.”
Also on this date
In 1867, the United States took formal possession of Alaska from Russia.
In 1898, the American flag was first raised in Puerto Rico, shortly before Spain formally relinquished control of the island to the U.S.
In 1931, inventor Thomas Alva Edison died at his home in West Orange, N.J., at the age of 84.
In 1954, Texas Instruments unveiled the Regency TR-1, the first commercially produced transistor radio.
In 1962, James D. Watson, Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins were honored with the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology for determining the double-helix molecular structure of DNA.
In 1968, American Bob Beamon shattered the long jump world record by nearly 2 feet, leaping 29 feet, 2¼ inches at the Summer Olympics in Mexico City.
In 1972, Congress passed the Clean Water Act, overriding President Richard Nixon’s veto.
In 1977, West German commandos stormed a hijacked Lufthansa jetliner on the ground in Mogadishu, Somalia, freeing all 87 hostages and four crew members and killing three of the four hijackers.
In 2018, President Donald Trump threatened to close the U.S. border with Mexico if authorities could not stop a caravan of migrants making their way from Central America.
Fun fact
Elephants can hear with their feet. They are specialists in seismic communication, relying upon sound waves that travel within the surface of the ground instead of through air.
Today’s birthdays
Football Hall of Famer Mike Ditka is 85. Composer Howard Shore is 78. Actor Joe Morton is 77. Author Terry McMillan is 73. Tennis Hall of Famer Martina Navratilova is 68. Boxing Hall of Famer Thomas Hearns is 66. Actor Jean-Claude Van Damme is 64. Jazz musician Wynton Marsalis is 63. Musician Ne-Yo is 45. Olympic gold medal skier Lindsey Vonn is 40. Jazz singer-musician Esperanza Spalding is 40. Actor Freida Pinto is 40. Actor Zac Efron is 37. WNBA center Brittney Griner is 34. Actor Tyler Posey is 33. Actor Barry Keoghan is 32.
The Edge is compiled by Katie Clohessy. She can be contacted at kclohessy@lmtribune.com.
