Today is Tuesday, Sept. 23, the 267th day of 2008. There are 99 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Tuesday, Sept. 23, the 267th day of 2008. There are 99 days left in the year. On this date in 1908, one of baseball’s most famous blunders occurs in a game between the New York Giants and the visiting Chicago Cubs. With the score tied 1-1 in the bottom of the ninth and two runners out, the Giants bat in what should have been the winning run. However, Fred Merkle, who is on first base, begins to leave the field apparently without bothering to tag second; the Cubs then claim to have forced Merkle out. Merkle is eventually ruled out, negating the winning run and leaving the game tied. (The Cubs win a rematch game on Oct. 8 and with it, the National League pennant; Chicago then goes on to win the World Series.)

In 1780, British spy John Andre is captured along with papers revealing Benedict Arnold’s plot to surrender West Point to the British. In 1806, the Lewis and Clark expedition returns to St. Louis more than two years after setting out for the Pacific Northwest. In 1846, Neptune is identified as a planet by German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle. In 1938, a time capsule, to be opened in the year 6939, is buried on the grounds of the World’s Fair in New York City. In 1952, Republican vice-presidential candidate Richard M. Nixon goes on television to deliver what comes to be known as the “Checkers” speech as he refutes allegations of improper campaign financing.

September 23, 1983: Mahoning County sheriff’s deputies venture into Trumbull County and seize 75 marijuana plants from a patch of land next to Liberty Lake. A spokesman for Sheriff James A Traficant Jr. says deputies received a tip about the plants.

About 30 Lordstown High School students set up their own picket line across the street from the school to protest a strike by Lordstown teachers, which is in its eighth day.

Harold “Nick” Nichols wins a close runoff election for the Packard Electric union’s shop chairman, defeating Michael Crosby, 3,540 to 3,057.

September 23, 1968: The headquarters of Penn Central Railroad’s restructured Valley Division will be moved from Cleveland to Youngstown, says George M. Smith, vice president and regional manager of the railroad.

Two accused Youngstown counterfeiters who escaped from jail at Lexington County, Ky., are captured by Indiana State Police near Evansville.

The Mahoning County Board of Elections on the second floor of the Realty Building on Central Square will be open till 9 p.m. three nights leading up to the deadline for voter registration.

September 23, 1958: Plans are announced for the 250-acre Western Reserve Industrial Park in Austintown, roughly between the high school and Meander Reservoir, off Route 18.

The McKay Building on W. Federal Street at Spring Common is being torn down and a paved parking lot will be built on the site.

A 3-year-old Boardman boy is the area’s 19th reported case of polio. As in almost all cases reported, it is of the nonparalytic variety.

High School students in Norfolk, Va., sign petitions asking the schools be kept open. Officials are refusing to open schools rather than comply with school desegregation ordered by the Supreme Court.

September 23, 1933: Paul Moss, who was known as Paul Moscovitz when he graduated from Farrell High School, wins a $10,000 prize and a contract to write five stories that will be made into movies by Warner Brothers Pictures Corp.

School terms in Niles, Austintown, Ellsworth and some other area school districts are likely to be cut short after the state Legislature fails to provide financial help for schools in Ohio.

Steel output in the Mahoning Valley remains stable, at about 48 percent of capacity.