Today in Chicago History: White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle throws a perfect game
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Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)
1877: A rail strike that started in West Virginia grew into a national struggle between industrialists and workers, with Chicago a hotbed of the dispute. Workers demanding the eight-hour day clashed violently with police, militia and even U.S. infantry.
The Chicago Times noted that the largely immigrant mob included women — 'Bohemian Amazons' wielding clubs in their 'brawny arms.' The more heavily armed authorities killed 30 protesters in the fighting, which included an incident known as 'The Battle of the Viaduct' because it occurred at a viaduct at 16th and Halsted streets.
Vintage Chicago Tribune: From horseless carriages to cougars, revisiting the Chicago Auto Show1903: E. Pfennig, a Chicago physician, bought Ford's first Model A for $850. His check, deposited July 15, helped the new company, whose finances were $223.65 at the time.
1922: The Lincoln Park Boat Club swept the top rowing events in the first annual Chicago Water Carnival, which was sponsored by the Tribune.
1925: Chicago's Union Station held its grand opening.
There were formal and casual dining facilities, staffed by the famed Harvey Girls, who waited on tables in what is considered the nation's first restaurant chain at train stations across the country.
The Woman's Waiting Room had stairs leading down to a nursery. A doctor, a nurse and a matron were present at all times.
There were two jail cells for offenders being taken to prison, a morgue for travelers who died on a train and a chapel for those feeling spiritually needy. One hospital handled customers' medical emergencies. Another cared for railroad employees.
1975: The City Council passed 'Burke's Law,' an ordinance proposed by the 14th Ward alderman that outlawed nudity in massage parlors. The nickname was inspired by a popular television detective show from that time.
Arlington International Racecourse: History of one of the 'world's most beautiful racetracks'1981: Gov. James Thompson signed a bill into law allowing wagering on out-of-state races. Arlington Park became the first Illinois track to use the new bill when it simulcast the Travelers Stakes late that summer.
2009: Chicago White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle threw a perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays. The White Sox won 5-0. It was also the 18th perfect game in major-league history.
White Sox pitchers have thrown more no-hitters than any other American League team.
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Today in Chicago History: ‘Black Sox' acquitted, but ultimately banned for life from baseball
Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Aug. 2, according to the Tribune's archives. Is an important event missing from this date? Email us. Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago) High temperature: 101 degrees (1991) Low temperature: 51 degrees (1985) Precipitation: 5.63 inches (1885) Snowfall: Trace (2015) 1921: Eight White Sox players had been charged with throwing the World Series. Despite earning the nickname the 'Black Sox,' the men were acquitted by a jury that deliberated just 2 hours and 47 minutes. Chicago White Sox players conspired to throw the 1919 World Series. Here's how the Tribune covered it. A day after their acquittal, however, baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis ruled that the players allegedly involved — Joe Jackson, Eddie Cicotte, Oscar Emil 'Happy' Felsch, Chick Gandil, Frederick William McMullin, Swede Risberg, Buck Weaver and Lefty Williams — would be banned for life from organized baseball. 1990: Chicago White Sox rookie Frank Thomas knocked in the winning run in his first major-league game. The Sox beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4-3 during the opener of a doubleheader at County Stadium. In addition to future Hall of Famer Thomas, the Sox's lineup also included two of their No. 1 draft picks: Alex Fernandez (1990) and Robin Ventura (1988). 2001: Chicago Public Library launched its 'One Book, One Chicago' initiative. The first book on the list: 'To Kill a Mockingbird' by Harper Lee — Mayor Richard M. Daley's favorite. Vintage Chicago Tribune: Pelé, Hamm, Beckham, Rapinoe, Messi and more. When soccer's big names came to play 2009: Brazilian soccer star Marta made her professional debut in the United States with her Los Angeles Sol team, which lost in a match against the Chicago Red Stars at Toyota Park in Bridgeview. Subscribe to the free Vintage Chicago Tribune newsletter, join our Chicagoland history Facebook group, stay current with Today in Chicago History and follow us on Instagram for more from Chicago's past. Have an idea for Vintage Chicago Tribune? Share it with Kori Rumore and Marianne Mather at krumore@ and mmather@ Solve the daily Crossword
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Today in Chicago History: ‘Black Sox' acquitted, but ultimately banned for life from baseball
Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Aug. 2, according to the Tribune's archives. Is an important event missing from this date? Email us. Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago) 1921: Eight White Sox players had been charged with throwing the World Series. Despite earning the nickname the 'Black Sox,' the men were acquitted by a jury that deliberated just 2 hours and 47 minutes. Chicago White Sox players conspired to throw the 1919 World Series. Here's how the Tribune covered it.A day after their acquittal, however, baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis ruled that the players allegedly involved — Joe Jackson, Eddie Cicotte, Oscar Emil 'Happy' Felsch, Chick Gandil, Frederick William McMullin, Swede Risberg, Buck Weaver and Lefty Williams — would be banned for life from organized baseball. 1990: Chicago White Sox rookie Frank Thomas knocked in the winning run in his first major-league game. The Sox beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4-3 during the opener of a doubleheader at County Stadium. In addition to future Hall of Famer Thomas, the Sox's lineup also included two of their No. 1 draft picks: Alex Fernandez (1990) and Robin Ventura (1988). 2001: Chicago Public Library launched its 'One Book, One Chicago' initiative. The first book on the list: 'To Kill a Mockingbird' by Harper Lee — Mayor Richard M. Daley's favorite. Vintage Chicago Tribune: Pelé, Hamm, Beckham, Rapinoe, Messi and more. When soccer's big names came to play2009: Brazilian soccer star Marta made her professional debut in the United States with her Los Angeles Sol team, which lost in a match against the Chicago Red Stars at Toyota Park in Bridgeview. Subscribe to the free Vintage Chicago Tribune newsletter, join our Chicagoland history Facebook group, stay current with Today in Chicago History and follow us on Instagram for more from Chicago's past.
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Cousins who were longest-serving wrongfully convicted people in Illinois get innocence certificates
James Soto and his cousin, David Ayala, stood outside the doors of a Cook County courtroom Wednesday at the end of a more than four-decade entanglement with the criminal court and prison system, nervously riding out a final 20-minute delay in their hearing to receive an official declaration of innocence. 'It doesn't happen until it happens. I waited so long,' Soto said, listening for a call back into the room. Family and supporters audibly exhaled when the decision came several minutes later: a certificate of innocence was granted for the two men, the longest-serving wrongfully convicted people in Illinois. Ayala and Soto were released from prison more than a year and a half ago after a judge exonerated them. But the certificate of innocence means even the arrest records from the case will be erased. Soto said having the certificate will allow him to travel without restrictions, and both men said it would help them to move on with their lives. Soto, whose post-release journey the Tribune chronicled earlier this year, and Ayala were wrongfully convicted of murder in 1982 and served 42 years before their release from prison in December 2023. 'Our vindication is not based on some sort of technicality,' Ayala said after the ruling. 'This is clear proof of evidence, what we've been saying for over 42 years.' Cook County prosecutors previously dropped all charges in the case. But Soto, Ayala and their family and supporters all said they still felt on edge in court before the certificates were issued. 'It feels like I'm in a dream,' Rose Ayala-Olson, David's sister, said in the lobby of the Leighton Criminal Court Building. 'He's innocent. He always has been.' Soto earned a college degree in prison and learned how to write court petitions for himself and others who were in prison. He had a reputation inside prison walls for using his self-taught knowledge to help others who were incarcerated with their legal issues, sometimes writing the first petition that would eventually win freedom or a sentence reduction. A professor once called him 'one of the most successful non-licensed litigators inside of Stateville.' Next month, he's planning to take the LSAT, his attorney Lauren Myerscough-Mueller said. Now in their 60s, Soto and Ayala were 20 and 18 when they were arrested following the shooting deaths of 16-year-old Julie Limas and Hector Valeriano, 18, a U.S. Marine on leave, on Aug. 16, 1981. They were sentenced to natural life in prison. The case largely turned on a single witness who, in exchange for a deal, told a jury Soto carried out a shooting with him and a third person under orders from Ayala. That witness was later key to both men's exoneration, when an Illinois appeals court found that other witnesses contradicted his 'highly-incentivized' account. Ayala served 15 years in the supermax facility at the now-shuttered Tamms Correctional Center, which was known for brutal conditions and was the prison where the state housed people on death row before the death penalty was abolished in Illinois. Both men have been making up for lost time since their release, getting out in nature and volunteering, Myerscough-Mueller said. Soto last year filed a lawsuit against defendants including the city of Chicago and Cook County accusing police and prosecutors of using abusive tactics to get witnesses to tell a certain story, including threatening them with the death penalty and depriving them of sleep and food. He said he expects that process will continue for another four or five years. Ayala has filed a similar lawsuit seeking compensation for his wrongful conviction. 'This is something that I've been waiting for a long time, and to finally hear those words — I mean, it's like a whole weight lifted off me,' Soto said of receiving the certificate.
