In 1954 - Hank Aaron of the Milwaukee Braves hit his first major-league home run.

In 1963 - Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds got his first hit in the major leagues.

In 1969 - Sirhan Sirhan was sentenced to death for the assassination of New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy. (The sentence was later reduced to life imprisonment.)

In 1975 - Peter Ham of Badfinger hung himself in his London garage. He was reportedly very depressed by financial problems the group was having. He was 27 years old.

In 1985 - The Coca-Cola Company announced that it was changing its 99-year-old secret formula. New Coke was not successful, which resulted in the resumption of selling the original version.

In 1988 - A U.S. federal law took effect that banned smoking on flights that were under two hours. Now, there is no smoking on any flights in the U.S.

In 1989 - Kareem Abdul-Jabar played his last regular season game in the NBA.

In 1991 - Johnny Thunders died of a drug overdose. He was a singer a guitarist with New York Dolls and Heartbreakers.

In 1994 - Courtney Love gave the gun Kurt Cobain used to commit suicide to the Mothers Against Violence In America and set up a college scholarship in his name at Aberdeen High, where Cobain and Krist Novoselic both went to school. Ex-Hüsker Dü drummer Grant Hart announced a Kurt Cobain Memorial Fund to educate people about heroin as well.

In 1994 - Autopsy results for Kurt Cobain were made public and they showed the level of heroin in the singer’s blood stream was 1.52 milligrams per liter. Half that amount could prove fatal. There were also traces of the tranquilizers Valium and Diazepan. Pathologists said that this makes it uncertain whether Cobain meant to overdose or whether he was aware of what he was doing when he shot himself.

In 1995 - Famed sports announcer Howard Cosell died at the age of 77.

In 1996 - A New York civil court jury ordered Bernhard Goetz to pay $43 million to Darrell Cabey. Cabey was paralyzed when he was shot in a subway car in 1984.

In 1998 - Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s killer, James Earl Ray, died in a Nashville hospital at the age of 70. He confessed to the killing, but later recanted, saying he had been framed.

In 2003 - U.S. President Bush signed legislation that authorized the design change of the 5-cent coin (nickel) for release in 2004. It was the first change to the coin in 65 years. The change, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase, was planned to run for only two years before returning to the previous design.

In 2006 – Capricorn Records Phil Walden, who launched Otis Redding’s career, died of lung cancer at the age of 66.

In 1968 - Leftist students at Columbia University in New York began a week long occupation of several campus buildings.

In 1970 - Grace Slick and Abbie Hoffman were turned away from Tricia Nixon’s party even though they received invitations. Apparently they were not allowed in since Abbie was on trial for conspiring a riot at the 1968 Democratic convention. They had promised to introduce Tricia to LSD-laced tea.

In 1972 - One of John Lennon’s most controversial singles "Woman Is The Nigger of the World" was released. Despite nearly every radio station refusing to play it, the song went to #57 on the charts.

In 1974 - David Bowie’s “Diamond Dogs” LP hit stores with a censored cover. The original art featured Bowie as a dog, with full genitalia.

In 1974 - Actor/comedian Bud Abbott died from cancer. He was born in 1895. He and Lou Costello made several films together. One of their funniest routines was "Who’s on First" seen in their first film One Night in the Tropics. He and Lou Costello are the only two non-sportsmen honored in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY, USA for their "Who's On First" routine.

In 1980 - Following failed diplomatic initiatives, the U.S. attempted to rescue the Americans held hostage in the U.S. Embassy in Teheran. The commando mission was called off due to equipment failure. Eight soldiers were killed and 5 injured during the pull-out in a collision between a helicopter and a transport plane. U.S. would-be commander (if the mission had happened) Major Logan Fitch, said, "We would have been successful, had we been able to continue." He is now a stockbroker.

In 1981 - The IBM personal computer was introduced.

In 1990 - The road crew for Roger Waters discovered an unexploded World War II era bomb while constructing the set for "The Wall" concert in Potsdamer Platz, Germany.

In 1992 - David Bowie married supermodel Iman in a private Swiss town hall ceremony.

In 1993 - Farm Aid 6 took place in Ames, Iowa.

In 1998 - ABC confirmed that it was cancelling the TV series “Ellen.” The show was the first series to feature an openly gay lead character.

In 2000 - A teen-age gunman opened fire at Washington’s National Zoo, wounding seven children.

In 2002 - Jewel was thrown from a horse and suffered a broken collarbone and a rib.

In 2003 - A U.S. official reported the North Korea had claimed to have nuclear weapons.

In 2006 – A $100 million sexual-harassment suit was filed by Bianca Nardi, a former producer, against Maury Povich and members of his staff. Nardi claims she was put in humiliating situations – such as being ordered to expose her body and watch pornography - while employed at Maury. NBC Universal, which produces the show, denies the claim.

In 1967 – Colorado Governor John Love signed the first law legalizing abortion in the United States.

In 1968 - The Beatles refused to perform for the Queen of England at a British Olympic Appeal Fund show citing "Our decision would be the same no matter what the cause. We don’t do benefits."

In 1974 - Pam Morrison, Jim Morrison’s widow, died in her Hollywood apartment. Police think she had been using heroin for about a year and speculate that she died of an overdose. She was 27 years old.

In 1983 - Soviet leader Yuri V. Andropov invited Samantha Smith to visit his country after receiving a letter from the Manchester, Maine schoolgirl that had expressed fears about nuclear war.

In 1984 - David Kennedy, 28-year-old son of the late Robert Kennedy, was found dead in a hotel room in Palm Beach, FL.

In 1990 - The Fender Stratocaster that Jimi Hendrix used to play the "Star Spangled Banner" at Woodstock was auctioned off in London for $295,000, a world record for a guitar.

In 1995 - The sister of a Kurt Cobain copycat suicide victim started a petition demanding a better parental warning sticker on albums whose lyrics may promote suicide. Besides Nirvana, the woman said Nine Inch Nails was another group that wasn’t appropriate for troubled teens.

In 1995 - Show business legend Ginger Rogers died at the age of 83.

In 2002 - In Honduras, Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes (TLC) was killed in a car crash.

In 2003 - Sinead O'Connor announced on her Web site that she was going to retire.

In 2007 - Bobby Boris Pickett died at the age of 69 due to complications from leukemia. He was born on February 11, 1938. ("Monster Mash")

In 2009 - Actress/comedienne Beatrice Arthur died at the age of 86. She had been ill from cancer.

In 1964 - The Boston Celtics wrapped up an unprecedented sixth consecutive NBA championship. The Celtics still had two more crowns to win before the string came to an end.

In 1977 - New York’s legendary Studio 54 opened its doors.

In 1982 - Desiring more than an autograph, gunman robbed Rod Stewart in broad daylight on Hollywood’s Sunset Strip.

In 1986 - An explosion occurred at the Soviet Union’s Chernobyl Atomic Power Station at Pripyat in the Ukraine. The resulting fire burned for days, sending radioactive material into the atmosphere which swept across several nations in Western Europe and eventually reached the U.S. It was the world’s worst nuclear reactor accident. The death toll was reported to be anywhere from several dozen to hundreds. Many more died later and the land is useless.

In 1989 - Actress-comedian, Lucille Ball, died at the age of 77.

In 1998 - Auxiliary Bishop Juan Gerardi Conedera was bludgeoned to death two days after a report he’d compiled of the atrocities during Guatemala’s 36-year civil war was made public.

In 1999 - Sinead O’Connor was ordained as the first woman priest in the Latin Tridentine Church.

In 1999 - Lycos launched five Web radio music channels hosted by live DJs.

In 2002 - In Erfurt, Germany, an expelled student killed 17 people at his former school. The student then killed himself.

In 1965 - R.C. Duncan patented Pampers.

In 1968 - Simon and Garfunkel’s "Mrs. Robinson" was released.

In 1978 - 51 construction workers plunged to their deaths when a scaffold inside a cooling tower at the Pleasants Power Station site in West Virginia fell 168 feet to the ground.

In 1978 - John D. Ehrlichman (Watergate defendant) was released from prison after serving 18 months.

In 1981 - Ringo Starr, former Beatle, married actress Barbara Bach. The two met during the filming of the classic movie "Cave Man."

In 1982 - John W. Hinkley, Jr.’s trial began for shooting 4 people including Ronald Reagan. He was acquitted by reason of insanity.

In 1983 - Nolan Ryan (Houston Astros) struck out the 3,509th batter of his career to pass Walter Johnson as all time strike out king. Walter Johnson held the title for 55 years.

In 1989 - Student protestors took over Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

In 1990 - David Bowie kicked off the U.S. leg of his Sound and Vision tour, the last time he would sing the old hits like "Fame" for the fans.

In 1990 - Axl Rose (Guns N’ Roses) married Erin Everly. The marriage lasted for 27 days.

In 1994 - Police officers Joseph Gabrish and John Balcerzak were reinstated with retroactive pay. They were fired for failing to arrest Jeffrey Dahmer during a confrontation in 1991.

In 1994 - The Fillmore Club re-opened in San Francisco.

In 2001 - A&E aired “Live By Request” in which the Bee Gees performed many of their hit songs.