Since the Pirates Were Last in the Playoffs
- New York State, under the governance of Martin Van Buren, passed the Bank Safety Fund Law. This would later be recognized as a precursor to what we now know as deposit insurance.
- The Engrian region ruled by the Germanic Saxons endured their second defeat under Charlemagne.
- Benjamin Franklin, then deputy postmaster in the colonies, published The Gulf Stream Chart after becoming interested in the disparities in travel time between mail ships traveling to different destinations.
- The Saginaw Bay was populated by the Sauk tribe, having been forced from their territory along the St. Lawrence River by the Iroquois.
- Dante Alighieri, having already completed his Divine Comedy, wrote Monarchia, a call to establish a global monarchy underpinned by the Roman Catholic Church, which he saw as a path to everlasting peace.
- Rudolph I of Germany moved his family to Austria, greatly diminishing the importance of Hapsburg Castle as a dynastical focal point.
- The Zuniceratops, after nearly 10 million years of existence, evolved into what we commonly know now as the Triceratops.
- Jazz pianist Jelly Roll Morton returned to Chicago to perform his recently-published rag The Wolverines around various bars and night clubs.
- The Zhengtong Emperor, after being held prisoner for four years by the Oriat Mongols, was released, as the Ming never paid a ransom since the Emperor’s brother took over the throne under the name Jingtai.
- After rapid expansion and cooling ended, a large concentration of quark-gluon plasma was subject to baryogenesis, causing a small excess of quarks and leptons. This lead to a higher concentration of matter over antimatter that is still seen at present.
David G. Temple is the Managing Editor of TechGraphs and a contributor to FanGraphs, NotGraphs and The Hardball Times. He hosts the award-eligible podcast Stealing Home. Dayn Perry once called him a "Bible Made of Lasers." Follow him on Twitter @davidgtemple.
When the Pirates were last in the playoffs, Bryce Harper was a fetus.