May 22, 1993: The Great Midwest Flood of 1993

May 22, 1993: The Great Midwest Flood of 1993 reaches its peak. It killed 32 people, and caused over $15 billion in damage. It is the most damaging American flood since the Mississippi River flood that struck Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana in 1927.

The preceding Winter featured a snowfall much greater than average, and as it melted, it caused the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, and their various tributaries, to flood.

Especially hard-hit were communities along the Mississippi River in Illinois and Iowa. Among these were the Quad Cities: Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa; and Rock Island and Moline, Illinois. Davenport's former Municipal Stadium, built in 1931, by this point known as John O'Donnell Stadium, and now named Modern Woodmen Park, home of the Class A Midwest League's Quad Cities River Bandits, was flooded, as seen in the photo above, next to the Rock Island Centennial Bridge.

May 22 is considered the peak because Sioux Falls, South Dakota received 7 1/2 inches of rain in just 3 hours, swelling the Big Sioux River, which flows into the Missouri River, which flows into the Mississippi just north of St. Louis, Missouri.

At the same time, the opposite hit the Southeastern U.S.: A drought. In late June, with much of the Midwest still dealing with flooding, I was in South Carolina. The State's largest newspaper, The State, published a political cartoon, showing the State flag, but with a cactus instead of the State Flower, the palmetto.

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May 22, 1993 was a Saturday. A full slate of Major League Baseball games was played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox, 7-3 at Fenway Park in Boston. Mike Witt outpitched Roger Clemens. Danny Tartabull hit a home run, and Dion James had 3 hits.

* The New York Mets beat the Atlanta Braves, 6-1 at Shea Stadium.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-5 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-4 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Harold Reynolds drove in the winning run with a sacrifice fly in the 14th inning. Cal Ripken hit a home run, while Robin Yount, his predecessor as baseball's best shortstop, drove in a run with a bases-loaded walk.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Florida Marlins, 2-1 at Joe Robbie Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The Texas Rangers beat the California Angels, 4-2 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Minnesota Twins, 7-0 at the SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre) in Toronto. How many Blue Jays does it take to pitch a 6-hit shutout? Apparently, 5: Todd Stottlemyre left the game in the 3rd inning due to an injury, and was followed by Danny Cox (credited as the winning pitcher), Mark Eichhorn, Mike Timlin and Duane Ward.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-2 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians, 5-1 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Chicago White Sox, 6-4 at the new Comiskey Park (now Rate Field) in Chicago. For the A's, Dave Henderson hit a home run, and Rickey Henderson (no relation) went 1-for-4. For the ChiSox, Ozzie Guillen (yes, the future manager) hit a home run, and Frank Thomas went 1-for-5.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Seattle Mariners, 4-1 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. George Brett went 1-for-4 with an RBI, while Ken Griffey Jr. went 0-for-4.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Houston Astros, 9-4 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Ken Caminiti hit 2 home runs, and Jeff Bagwell hit 1. But Tony Gwynn went 3-for-5, and Phil Plantier hit 2 RBI doubles.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Colorado Rockies, 4-3 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* And the Cincinnati Reds beat the San Francisco Giants, 6-2 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Roberto Kelly, Barry Larkin and Chris Sabo hit home runs for the Reds; while Royce Clayton and Robby Thompson hit them for the Giants. Barry Bonds went 1-for-3.

Football was out of season. There was 1 game played in the NBA Playoffs that day, and it was a Game 7: The Seattle SuperSonics beat the Houston Rockets, 103-100 in overtime at the Key Arena in Seattle.

The Stanley Cup Playoffs were in the Conference Finals. The New York Islanders beat the Montreal Canadiens, 4-1 at the Nassau Coliseum, in Game 4 of the Prince of Wales Conference Finals. But that would be the only game the Isles won in the series, as the Canadiens went on to win the Cup. They beat the Los Angeles Kings, who were on on off-day in their Clarence Campbell Conference Finals against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

January 15, 1919: The Great Molasses Flood In Boston

January 15, 1919: The Great Molasses Flood strikes the North End of Boston.

The Purity Distilling Company had a 50-foot-tall molasses tank at 529 Commercial Street, between Commercial Street and the Charles River, across from the Copps Hill Burying Ground, part of the Freedom Trail.

In January 1919, it had been colder than usual in Boston. But on the 15th, the temperature rose to 40 degrees. This caused the molasses to expand, and break through the tank at about 12:30 PM. Witnesses compared the sound of the explosion to that of a thunderclap, and the sound of the rushing molasses to that of an elevated train passing. There was damage to an actual elevated railway, which later became part of the MBTA Green Line. That line has since been rerouted underground.

Several blocks were flooded, up to 3 feet. People were swept away, and the headline in the photo above contained only early casualty totals. Ultimately, it was determined that 21 people died, and over 150 were injured. Given that this was still the early days of the automobile, and the North End has narrow, twisting streets (even more so than most of Boston, as it's the oldest part of the earliest-developed city in America, though not the oldest), it shouldn't be surprising that an unknown, but large, number of horses were also killed.

For months afterward, people claimed they could still smell the molasses. It got worse in the Summer, when the residue added to the humidity. And 1919 and 1920 were years of terror, as many anarchist bombs were set off in America, particularly in Massachusetts. This led to suspicion that the molasses tank explosion may have been due to a bomb. No evidence of this was ever found.

Today, the site of the tank is a baseball field, in what's known as Langone Park.

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January 15, 1919 was a Wednesday. This was also the day that Rosa Luxemburg was assassinated, marking the end of the Spartacist Uprising in Germany. I have a separate entry for that event.

Baseball and football were in their off-seasons. Professional basketball was minor-league at best. And while the NHL season was underway, no games were scheduled for the day. So there were no scores on this historic day.