Today in history–April 11

1803: Afraid that the British will capture it anyway, French foreign minister Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord offers to sell Louisiana to the United States.

1856: U.S. lawyer, filibuster, and Nicaraguan President William Walker is defeated by Costa Ricans supported by Cornelius Vanderbilt (who believed that Walker had reneged on a business deal) at the Battle of Rivas.

1899: Spain cedes Puerto Rico to the United States.

1906: James Anthony Bailey, the business side of “Barnum & Bailey,” dies at Mount Vernon, New York.

1921: KDKA Radio in Pittsburgh broadcasts the first live sports event in radio history, lightweight boxing match at Motor Square Garden between Johnny Ray and Johnny Dundee.  Pittsburgh Post sportswriter Florent Gibson thus becomes the nation’s first sportscaster.

1941: General Electric puts the first outdoor hydrogen-cooled generator into service for the city of Glendale, California.  No, we don’t know why this is particularly noteworthy, either.

1961: Nineteen-year-old Robert Allen Zimmerman of Duluth, Minnesota, makes his singing debut in New York City as “Bob Dylan.”  His first number?  Blowin’ in the Wind.

1962: The expansion New York Mets baseball club plays its first-ever game, losing 11-7 to the St. Louis Cardinals.  This season, as the team sets a record for losses, manager Casey Stengel will observe, “The only thing worse than a Mets game is a Mets double header.”