Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Aug. 20, 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: 98 degrees (1947)
- Low temperature: 47 degrees (1950)
- Precipitation: 1.47 inches (1951)
- Snowfall: None
1948: The National League champion Chicago Cardinals beat the College All-Stars 28-0 in front of 101,220 fans at Soldier Field.
1957: Bob Keegan — at 37 — became the oldest player to throw a no-hitter for the Chicago White Sox. The Sox beat the Washington Senators 6-0 in the second game of a doubleheader at Comiskey Park.
1961: The international press called it “a stunning upset.” Three American teenagers scored a Wightman Cup victory at Saddle & Cycle Club over veteran British tennis stars Ann Haydon, Cristine Truman, Angela Mortimer and Deidre Catt.
Billie Jean King on today’s tennis, the media and a new play at Chicago Shakespeare about her life
The American teens were Karen Hantze and Justina Bricka, both 18, and bouncy 17-year-old Billie Jean Moffitt, who spurred on her own game by muttering “Come on, baby” to herself. Moffitt later played under her married name, King. The American teens had lost to the same Britons at Wimbledon earlier in the year. They said that playing the established British stars before huge crowds helped them gain experience and confidence for the Wightman matches in Chicago.
1965: After arriving quietly at Chicago’s Midway Airport, the Beatles played a day-night doubleheader at Comiskey Park.
More than 50,000 incessantly screaming fans drowned out the Beatles during the 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. shows. John Lennon, then 24, was not annoyed. “They pay good prices to get in (top tickets, $5.50). Who are we to say whether or not they should scream?”
A solid line of officers sat shoulder to shoulder, with their backs to the infield, to prevent teens from taking second base, where the Beatles performed on a plywood bandstand. Paul McCartney singing “I’m Down” pumped up the volume of the screamfest. Based on that alone, Tribune reviewer Will Leonard surmised that this was “easily the artistic success of the evening.”
The take at the Comiskey gate was an estimated $150,000 to $160,000, compared with the year before at the Chicago Amphitheatre, when the Beatles had a reported $30,000 in ticket sales.
After the concert the Beatles stopped at Margie’s Candies in Bucktown for ice cream, recalled owner Peter Poulos Jr. “They sat at the back booth and ordered Atomic Busters (banana splits standing up). They began singing, John was standing on the table. The place was packed. They stayed about an hour.”
1976: Polish Cardinal Karol Wojtyla led a group of bishops on a tour of the United States that included Chicago. He returned in October 1979 — then known as Pope John Paul II.
2014: The Chicago Cubs won 2-0 over the San Francisco Giants after 4½ innings and a 4-hour, 34-minute rain delay when the grounds crew mishandled the tarp. The Giants appealed the ruling, won, but lost 2-1 a day later.
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