October 13, 1917: The Miracle of the Sun

October 13, 1917: "The Miracle of the Sun" takes place in Fátima, Portugal. Supposedly, the Sun did unusual things over the city, a "miracle" performed by the Virgin Mary. Although the official position of the Roman Catholic Church is that this happened, scientists have explained it as people staring at the Sun, until their vision was damaged enough to "play tricks on them."

Perhaps the story spread because World War I was going on, Portugal was neutral, and it seemed to be a good story, in a world that needed a story of hope.

October 13, 1917 was a Saturday. Game 5 of the World Series was played at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The Chicago White Sox beat the New York Giants, 8-5, behind Hall of Fame pitcher Urban "Red" Faber. They trailed 5-2 going into the bottom of the 7th, but scored 3 runs in the 7th and 3 in the 8th to win. They won the Series 2 days later.

There were some major college football games played that day:

* As they would be in World War II, Army was a dominant team in World War I. On this day, they beat Virginia Military Institute (VMI) on The Plain in West Point, New York.

* The University of Pittsburgh beat Lehigh, 41-0 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh.

* Ohio State beat Northwestern, 40-0 at Ohio Field in Columbus.

* Georgia Tech beat Davidson, 32-10 at Grant Field in Atlanta.

* Princeton only played 2 games due to the war's manpower drain, and this day would not be one of them. But Rutgers played, losing to Syracuse, 14-10 at Archbold Stadium in Syracuse, New York.