May 17, 1964: The 1st Tim Hortons Opens

May 17, 1964: The 1st Tim Hortons restaurant, featuring baked goods and coffee, opens in Hamilton, Ontario. Its namesake and co-founder, Tim Horton, had just helped the nearby Toronto Maple Leafs win their 3rd straight Stanley Cup.

In 1967, after winning a 4th Cup, Horton took on investor Ron Joyce, who ran Canada's Dairy Queens. Joyce was able to turn Tim Hortons into an icon of Canada.

Horton was killed in a car crash in 1974. He was 44, and was still playing. In fact, he had played the night before. After his death, Joyce offered his widow, Lori, $1 million for the shares of Tim Hortons that she inherited. She accepted, and Joyce became the sole owner. Lori lived until 2000. The Hortons had 4 children, all daughters. One of them, Jeri-Lyn, married Ron Joyce Jr. A statue of Horton now stands outside the original store in Hamilton.

When Quebec passed Bill 101 in 1977, mandating the supremacy of French over English in the Province, Tim Horton's decided it would be easier to drop the apostrophe in their name, rather than have 2 separate names, since the apostrophe does not exist in French.

Tim Hortons stores are all over Canada, and they are also common on Canadian military bases all over the world. A "Timmys Double Double" is a hot coffee with two creams and two sugars. "Timbits" are their name for donut holes, or what Dunkin Donuts calls "Munchkins."

In a 2009 episode of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, Robin Scherbatsky, like her portrayer Cobie Smulders a native of Vancouver, calls the Tim Hortons across the street from the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto "the most Canadian place there is." In real life, there isn't one across the street from the Hall of Fame -- there's one in the same building, with an address of 181 Bay Street.

Unfortunately, the franchise has not done well in America. At first, they tried opening stores in cities with NHL teams, like New York. But now, they are only available in the border cities of Buffalo (where Horton was playing when he died) and Detroit.

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May 17, 1964 was a Sunday. These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees swept a doubleheader from the Kansas City Athletics, 11-9 and 8-0 at Yankee Stadium. Mickey Mantle and Tom Tresh hit home runs in the opener, while Joe Pepitone hit 2 in the nightcap, as Whitey Ford pitched a 4-hit shutout.

* The New York Mets were swept in a doubleheader by the San Francisco Giants, 6-0 and 1-0 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Bob Hendley pitched a 3-hit shutout in the 1st game, backed by home runs from Orlando Cepeda, Jim Ray Hart and Willie McCovey. Ron Herbel pitched a 7-hit shutout in the 2nd game. Willie Mays went 0-for-3 with a walk in the 1st game, and only appeared as a late defensive replacement in the 2nd game.

* A doubleheader was split at Fenway Park in Boston. The Boston Red Sox won the 1st game, 6-2. The Minnesota Twins won the 2nd game, 6-5, as Earl Battey hit a home run in the top of the 9th inning. Over the 2 games, Carl Yastrzemski went 2-for-7 with 2 walks, while Harmon Killebrew went 2-for-8 with 2 home runs and 5 RBIs.

* The Los Angeles Angels beat the Baltimore Orioles, 9-4 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Brooks Robinson went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The Chicago White sox beat the Washington Senators, 3-2 at District of Columbia Stadium (later Robert F. Kennedy Stadium) in Washington.

* The Detroit Tigers swept a doubleheader from the Cleveland Indians, 3-1 and 4-1 at Tiger Stadium. Al Kaline hit a home run in the 1st game, then got the 2nd game off.

* A doubleheader was split at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The Chicago Cubs won the 1st game, 5-4. The Cincinnati Reds won the 2nd game, 7-1. Ernie Banks went 3-for-8 with 2 RBIs. Frank Robinson went 3-for-6 with 2 home runs, 2 walks and 3 RBIs.

* A doubleheader was split at the 1st Busch Stadium, formerly the last Sportsman's Park, in St. Louis. The St. Louis Cardinals won the 1st game, 7-3. The Milwaukee Braves won the 2nd game, 4-2. Hank Aaron went 1-for-9.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Houston Colt .45s, 2-0 at Colt Stadium in Houston. Chris Short pitched a 4-hit shutout. The Colts became the Astros the next season.

* And a doubleheader was split at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Dodgers won the 1st game, 3-2. Sandy Koufax outpitched Vern Law. The Pittsburgh Pirates won the 2nd game, 8-3. Roberto Clemente went 4-for-8 with a walk.