May 17, 1968: Nine people go to the draft board in Catonsville, Baltimore County, Maryland. They take 378 draft files, bring them to the parking lot in wire baskets, dump them out, pour homemade napalm over them, and set them on fire. The action is symbolic: Napalm was an incendiary used extensively by the U.S. military in Vietnam.
They were immediately arrested, and in October were found guilty of destruction of U.S. property, destruction of Selective Service files, and interference with the Selective Service Act of 1967. They were also sentenced to a total of 18 years' jail time and a fine of $22,000. But by mid-1972, they had all been released.
Of the Catonsville Nine: Brother David Darst was the first to die, killed in a car crash just 5 months later. Mary Moylan died in 1995. Father Philip Berrigan died in 2002, and his brother, Father Daniel Berrigan, in 2016. Thomas P. Lewis and John Hogan both died in 2008.
Former priest Thomas Melville and former nun Marjorie Bradford married each other. Thomas died in 2017, while Marjorie, as of May 17, 2022, lives in Mexico at the age of 92. The only other survivor is George Mische, whose idea it was. Now 84, he lives in the Minneapolis area, has praised the work of the students who have survived gun massacres, and says he sees a lot of 1968 in 2010s and 2020s activism.
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May 17, 1968 was a Friday. This was "The Year of the Pitcher" in baseball, and, on this day, 2 games were scoreless after 9 innings, another was 1-1 after 15, and 2 others were shutouts:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Boston Red Sox, 6-4 at Fenway Park in Boston. The Sox scored 2 runs off former Sox pitcher Bill Monbouquette to win it in the bottom of the 8th inning, and make future Yankee Sparky Lyle a winning pitcher in relief of Gary Bell. Mickey Mantle and Carl Yastrzemski each went 1-for-4. Mike Andrews went 3-for-4 with 3 RBIs.
* The New York Mets lost to the Atlanta Braves, 3-1 at Shea Stadium. Deron Johnson singled home Hank Aaron, and Felipe Alou doubled him home, in the top of the 16th inning. Aaron went 0-for-5 with 2 walks. The Mets' run came on a home run by Art Shamsky.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 1-0 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. Batting against his former teammate and road roommate, Bob Gibson, Bill White singled Woodie Fryman home with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning. Gibson and Fryman had both gone the distance.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 3-2 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Pete Rose and Johnny Bench each went 1-for-4. Roberto Clemente went 1-for-5 with an RBI. Willie Stargell went 1-for-3 before being removed for defensive purposes.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Cleveland Indians, 6-2 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-3 with a walk. Frank Robinson went 0-for-3 with a walk.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Washington Senators, 7-3 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Al Kaline went 1-for-4 with an RBI.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Oakland Athletics, 1-0 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Duane Josephson singled Tommy McCraw home with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning. Joe Horlen went the distance, allowing 4 hits and no walks over 10 innings. Jim Nash had allowed only 3 hits and 4 walks, with 13 strikeouts. Rookie Reggie Jackson went 1-for-4.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Houston Astros, 6-0 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Bill Singer pitched a 2-hit shutout.
* The San Francisco Giants beat the Chicago Cubs, 2-0 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Ray Sadecki pitched a 2-hit shutout. Willie Mays and Ernie Banks each went 1-for-3 with a walk.
* And the California Angels and the Minnesota Twins were rained out at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on July 23. The Angels won the opener, 3-1. The Twins won the nightcap, 3-1. Harmon Killebrew did not play in either game, and Rod Carew only played in the 2nd game, going 0-for-4.
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