June 30, 1900: The Hoboken Docks Fire

June 30, 1900: A fire breaks out on piers owned by Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL), a German shipping company, on the Hudson River in Hoboken, New Jersey. It kills at least 326 people.

The fire began when cotton bales stored on NDL's southernmost wharf caught fire, and winds carried the flames to nearby barrels of volatile liquids, such as turpentine and oil, which exploded in rapid succession. It burned NDL's Hoboken piers to the waterline, consumed or gutted nearby warehouses, gutted 3 of NDL's major transatlantic liners, and damaged or destroyed nearly two dozen smaller craft. Most of the victims were seamen and other workers, but included women visiting one of the ships.

The piers were at the foot of 3rd and 4th Streets, across the Hudson from West 12th Street in Manhattan, New York City. Pier C Park is on the site today. This is 5 blocks north of where the Hoboken Terminal of the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad was built in 1907, now serving New Jersey Transit and the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) system. 

NDL survived World War I, and barely survived World War II, with one remaining ship. It rebuilt, restored its place in international commerce, and merged with the Hamburg America Line (HAPAG) in 1970, forming Hapag-Lloyd AG.

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June 30, 1900 was a Saturday. These games were played in baseball's National League:

* The New York Giants lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, 8-1 at League Park (later renamed Robison Field) in St. Louis.

* The Brooklyn Superbas lost to the Chicago Orphans, 8-1 at West Side Park in Chicago. The Superbas were managed by Ned Hanlon, and were named after a popular circus troupe of the era, Hanlon's Superbas. They were renamed the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1911. The Reds played in several ballparks on the site of League Park from 1884 to 1970, the last of these being Crosley Field, starting in 1912.

The Chicago team, formerly known as the White Stockings and, for their youth, as the Colts, had long been led by 1st baseman and manager Adrian Constantine Anson. He was known as "Cap," for "Captain," until he got older, and became known as "Pop." He retired after the 1897 season, and the team became known as the "Orphans," because "they missed their Pop." They were renamed the Chicago Cubs in 1903.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-3 at Exposition Park in Pittsburgh.

* And the Cincinnati Reds beat the Boston Beaneaters, 4-0 at League Park in Cincinnati. The Beaneaters went through a few name changed before becoming the Boston Braves in 1912.

February 9, 1934: New York's Coldest Day

Lower Manhattan as seen from a ferry on a frozen Hudson River

February 9, 1934: A temperature of -15 degrees below zero is recorded in New York City. That figure is still a record low for the City.

There were 40 straight days of subfreezing (32 degrees or below) temperatures in New York in the Winter of 1933-34. It was -6 on December 30, -7 on February 8, and -15 on February 9.

New Yorkers have had to brave winds blasting cold air in from the wide Hudson and East Rivers, and from New York Harbor and Long Island Sound. For comparison's sake, Chicago, with Lake Michigan providing the same effect, had major cold spells in 1982, 1985, and 2019, bottoming out at -27 on January 20, 1985.

The next day, that same cold front hit Washington, D.C., and it was just 7 degrees above zero. Since the 20th was a Sunday, the Inauguration festivities for President Ronald Reagan's 2nd term were going to be held on Monday the 21st. But Reagan, an Illinois native, knew about cold, so he had the ceremony moved indoors to the Capitol Rotunda, and the parade canceled, out of concern for the marchers.

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February 9, 1934 was a Friday. This was also the day the film The Rise of Catherine the Great premiered. I have a separate entry for that event. Baseball and football were out of season. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. Fittingly, the NHL was the only major sports league in operation at the time, but no games were scheduled.

College basketball wasn't yet big enough to cover. And it was too cold, outside of Florida and California, for tennis, golf or horse racing. This was the time of year that made Paul Gallico answer, when asked why he gave up sportswriting, say, "February."