The Americas
Bahamas
*Andre Rodgers, the first Bahamian to play Major League baseball, was born in Nassau, Bahamas (December 2).
Kenneth Andre Ian Rodgers (b. December 2, 1934, Nassau, Bahamas – d. December 13, 2004, Nassau, Bahamas) was a Major League Baseball shortstop who played for the New York and San Francisco Giants (1957–60), Chicago Cubs (1961–64) and Pittsburgh Pirates (1965–67). He also played one season in Japan for the Taiyo Whales (1969). He batted and threw right-handed.
A native of Nassau, Bahamas, Rodgers was the first Bahamian to play in the major leagues. He was a talented cricket player who paid his own way for a tryout with the Giants in 1954. Rodgers failed to make the team that year. He had to learn the rules of baseball, and not to jump away from curveballs. Consequently, he adjusted and made his debut in 1957. Rodgers was a part of the Giants roster until October 1960 when he was traded to the Milwaukee Braves for Alvin Dark, who ultimately became the San Francisco manager at the time.
Before the 1961 season started, the Braves traded Rodgers to the Cubs. In 1962, he became the regular Cubs shortstop when Ernie Banks moved to first base. In that season, Rodgers, second baseman Ken Hubbs and Banks set a league record for double plays. After four productive seasons for the Cubs, Rodgers was traded to the Pirates.
In an 11-year career, Rodgers compiled a .249 batting average with 45 home runs and 245 RBI in 854 games. But even more important than the success he accomplished in his career was the fact that he opened the door for countrymen to follow such as Ed Armbrister, Tony Curry, Wenty Ford, and Wil Culmer. Indeed, in the immediate years following his success, baseball began to emerge as the most popular sport in the Bahamas, and in the 1960s had become even more popular than cricket.
Andre Rodgers died in Nassau, Bahamas at the age of 70.
Barbados
*Austin Clarke, a novelist, essayist and short story writer best known for his book The Polished Hoe, was born in St. James, Barbados.
Austin Ardinel Chesterfield "Tom" Clarke (b. July 26, 1934, St. James, Barbados – d. June 26, 2016, Toronto, Ontario, Canada) was a Barbadian novelist, essayist and short story writer who was based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Born in St. James, Barbados, Clarke had his early education there and taught at a rural school for three years. In 1955 he moved to Canada to attend the University of Toronto. After two years, he turned his hand to journalism and broadcasting. He was a reporter in the Ontario communities of Timmins and Kirkland Lake before joining the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation of as a freelance journalist. He taught subsequently at several American universities, including Yale University (1968–70), Duke University (1971–72), and the University of Texas (visiting professor, 1973).
In 1973, he was designated cultural attaché at the Barbadian embassy in Washington, D. C. He was later General Manager of the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation in Barbados (1975-1977). Returning to Canada, in 1977 he ran as a Progressive Conservative candidate in the Ontario provincial election. He was writer in residence at Concordian University, Montreal, Quebec (1977), and at the University of Western Ontario (1978). From 1988 to 1993 he served on the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada.
Clarke won the prestigious Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Commonwealth Writers Prize for his 2002 novel, “The Polished Hoe.” Set in the years immediately after World War II, it tells the story of Mary-Mathilda, a former house servant and mistress to a plantation’s powerful overseer, who years later offers a murder confession that lasts an entire night, forming an oral history steeped in slavery, colonialism and sexual exploitation.
In September 2012, at the International Festival of Authors (IFOA), Clarke was announced as the winner of the $10,000 Harbourfront Festival Prize "on the merits of his published work and efforts in fostering literary talent in new and aspiring writers".
Clarke died on June 26, 2016 at the age of 81 in Toronto.
Cuba
*Rico Rodriguez, a Cuban-born Jamaican ska artist, was born in Havana, Cuba (October 17).
Emmanuel "Rico" Rodriguez (b. October 17, 1934, Havana, Cuba – d. September 4, 2015, London, England), also known as simply Rico, Reco or El Reco, was a Cuban-born Jamaican ska and reggae trombonist. He recorded with many producers, including Karl Pitterson, Prince Buster, and Lloyd "Matador" Daley. He was known as one of the first and most distinguished ska artists, and from the early 1960s performed and recorded in Britain, with the Specials, Jools Holland, Paul Young, and others.
Rodriguez was born in Havana, Cuba, and moved with his family to Jamaica at an early age. He grew up in Kingston, Jamaica, and was taught to play the trombone by his slightly older schoolmate Don Drummond at the Alpha Boys School. In the 1950s, Rodriguez became a Rastafarian and was closely associated musically to the rasta drummer Count Ossie. In 1961, Rodriguez moved to the United Kingdom and started to play in reggae bands. In 1976, he recorded the album Man from Wareika under a contract with Island Records. In the late 1970s, with the arrival of the 2 Tone genre, he played with ska revival bands such as the Specials including their single "A Message to You, Rudy."
Rodriguez formed the group Rico and the Rudies and recorded the albums Blow Your Horn and Brixton Cat. In 1995, Island Records released the album Roots to the Bone, an updated version of Rodriguez's earlier work Man from Wareika. After 1996, among other engagements, he played with Jools Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra and also performed at various ska festivals throughout Europe with his own band. He retired from performing with Jools Holland in 2012.
He was awarded an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) at Buckingham Palace on July 12, 2007, for services to music. In October 2012, he was awarded the Silver Musgrave Medal by the Institute of Jamaica in recognition of his contribution to Jamaican music.
Haiti
*President Roosevelt arrived at Cap-Haitien, Haiti to a 21-gun salute, the first president to visit Haiti while in office (July 5). Roosevelt delivered a speech, partly in French, announcing the withdrawal of United States Marines from the country by October.
*The United States occupation of Haiti ended after 19 years in accordance with President Roosevelt's Good Neighbor policy towards Latin America, as the last contingent of American troops departed (August 15).
Puerto Rico
*Roberto Clemente, the first Latin American and Caribbean baseball player to be enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame, was born in Barrio San Anton, Carolina, Puerto Rico (August 18).
Roberto Enrique Clemente Walker (b. August 18, 1934, Barrio San Anton, Carolina, Puerto Rico – d. December 31, 1972, Isla Verde, Puerto Rico) was a Puerto Rican professional baseball player. Clemente spent eighteen Major League Baseball (MLB) seasons playing in the National League (NL) as a right fielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973, becoming the first Latin American and Caribbean player to be enshrined. His untimely death established the precedent that, as an alternative to the five-year retirement period, a player who has been deceased for at least six months is eligible for entry into the Hall of Fame.
Clemente was an All-Star for twelve seasons and fifteen All-Star Games. He was the National League Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 1966; the National League batting leader in 1961, 1964, 1965, and 1967; and a Gold Glove winner for twelve consecutive seasons from 1961 through 1972. His batting average was over .300 for thirteen seasons and he had 3,000 major league hits during his career. He also played in two World Series championships. Clemente is the first Latin American and Caribbean player to help win a World Series as a starter (1960), to receive an National League MVP Award (1966), and to receive a World Series MVP Award (1971).
Clemente was married in 1964; he and his wife had three children. He was involved in charity work in Latin American and Caribbean countries during the off-seasons, often delivering baseball equipment and food to those in need. On December 31, 1972, he died in an aviation accident while en route to deliver aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.
Clemente was originally signed to a professional contract by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1954. He was given a $10,000 bonus—very high by the standards of the times—but was sent to the minor leagues for the 1954 season. Because of a major league rule that stipulated that any player given a bonus of more that $4,000 had to be kept on the major league roster for his entire first season or be subject to a draft from other clubs, the Dodgers lost Clemente. Pittsburgh, which had finished last in the National League in 1954, selected him; Clemente made his major league debut on April 1, 1955, and spent his entire career with the Pittsburgh Pirates. For 18 seasons Clemente delighted fans with his hitting ability, daring base running, and strong throwing arm. His outstanding arm was perhaps his greatest physical asset. He won 12 Gold Gloves, the award given to the best fielding player in each position in the league. Baseball’s most talented outfielders are still compared to Clemente. He was also a very good hitter, winning four National League batting titles while compiling a lifetime average of .317. In 1972 Clemente got his 3,000th base hit on his very last at bat as a player. At the time, only 10 other players had reached this mark.
While Clemente amassed a mountain of impressive statistics during his career, he was often mocked by the print media in the United States for his heavy Spanish accent. Clemente was also subjected to the double discrimination of being a foreigner and being black in a racially segregated society. Although the media tried to call him “Bob” or “Bobby” and many of his baseball cards use “Bob,” Clemente explicitly rejected those nicknames, stating in no uncertain terms that his name was Roberto. There was also confusion over the correct form of his surname. For 27 years the plaque at the National Baseball Hall of Fame read “Roberto Walker Clemente,” mistakenly placing his mother’s maiden name before his father’s surname. Only in 2000 was it changed to its proper Latin American form, Roberto Clemente Walker.
Perhaps equally as important as Clemente’s accomplishments on the field was his role as an advocate for equitable treatment of Latin baseball players, in which he took great pride. For the Latino community, Roberto Clemente was to Latinos what Jackie Robinson was to African American baseball players. Clemente spoke up for Latinos and he was the first one to speak out.
In the off-season, Clemente returned to his homeland, playing winter baseball in the Puerto Rican League, providing baseball clinics to young players, and spending time with his family. He headed relief efforts in Puerto Rico after a massive earthquake hit Nicaragua in late December 1972. When Clemente received reports that the Nicaraguan army had stolen relief supplies meant for the people, he decided to accompany the next supply plane. Shortly after takeoff from the San Juan airport on December 31, 1972, the plane crashed, killing Clemente. The Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, waived the rule requiring a five-year wait after retirement (or death) before a player could be elected to the Hall, and in July 1973 Clemente was the first player born in Latin America to be inducted into the national baseball shrine. The award presented annually to a Major League Baseball player for exemplary sportsmanship and community service was renamed the Roberto Clemente Award in 1973.
Virgin Islands*President Roosevelt visited Saint Thomas, United States Virgin Islands (July 7).
Europe
France
*Josephine Baker appeared in the movie ZouZou.
*Josephine Baker was the lead in a revival of Jacques Offenbach's opera La creole, which premiered in December of 1934 for a six-month run at the Théâtre Marigny on the Champs-Elysees of Paris.
Germany
*The Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring went into effect in Nazi Germany (January 1).
Italy
*On March 18, Benito Mussolini made a speech in Rome outlining a 60-year plan that would give Italy the "primacy of the world" in the 21st century and would make that century a "blackshirt era". Mussolini proclaimed that Italy's future lay to the "east and south in Asia and Africa. The vast resources of Africa must be valorized and Africa brought within the civilized circle. I do not refer to conquest of territory but to natural expansion. We demand that nations which have already arrived in Africa do not block at every step Italian expansion."
*On March 24, an editorial in Mussolini's newspaper Il Popolo d'Italia wrote that "The diminution of births in the United States is assuming alarming proportions" The editorial concluded: "When we reflect there are in the United States 11,500,000 Negroes, people of extraordinary fecundity, it is necessary to conclude with a real cry of alarm. The Yellow Peril is nothing. We will encounter an Africanized America in which the white race, by the inexorable law of numbers, will end by being suffocated by the fertile grandsons of Uncle Tom. Are we to see within a century a Negro in the White House?"
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