IN: Samuel Luther "Big Sam" Thompson (March 5, 1860 - November 7, 1922) was an American professional baseball player from 1884 to 1898 and with a brief comeback in 1906. At 6 feet, 2 inches, the Indiana native was one of the larger players of his day and was known for his prominent handlebar mustache. He played as a right fielder in Major League Baseball for the Detroit Wolverines (1885-88), Philadelphia Phillies (1889-1898) and Detroit Tigers (1906). He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974.

At age 36, Thompson played his last full season of professional baseball in 1896. His average dipped to .298, but he still managed to collect 100 RBIs. Thompson's throwing remained strong as he turned in one of the finest defensive performances of his career. Despite appearing in only 119 games in the outfield, he led the league in outfield fielding percentage (.974), outfield assists (28), and double plays from the outfield (11). One sports writer noted that, even at age 38, Thompson "possessed an arm that the fastest sprinters in the big league had a lot of respect for." As a team, however, the Phillies fell to eighth place in the National League with a 62-68 record. In 1897, at age 37, Thompson was sidelined by pain and appeared in only three games. Some accounts suggest that Thompson's absence from the lineup may have also been the result of his not getting along with Philadelphia's new manager George Stallings. Without Thompson, the 1897 Phillies dropped to 10th place with a 55-77 record. Before the 1898 season began, Thompson gave an interview in which he questioned the Phillies chances to compete in 1898: "What are the Phillies' chances this season? Six clubs, Cincinnati Baltimore, Boston, New York, Cleveland and Brooklyn are bound to beat them, and they will have to fight hard to lead the second division, and I very much doubt if they can do that." Though his loyalty to the Phillies was questioned, Thompson did return in 1898 and was batting .349 with 15 RBIs, five doubles, three triples, a home run after 14 games. However, Thompson opted to leave the team in May 1898 and return to his home in Detroit. His sudden retirement has been attributed to a "combination of homesickness and chronic back pain." Other accounts indicate that continued tension with manager Stallings contributed to Thompson's decision to retire.
QUESTION: Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?
IN: Harry Dexter White was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the seventh and youngest child of Jewish Lithuanian immigrants, Joseph Weit and Sarah Magilewski, who had settled in America in 1885. In 1917 he enlisted in the U.S. Army, and was commissioned as lieutenant and served in France in a non-combat capacity in World War I. He did not begin his university studies until age 30, first at Columbia University, then at Stanford University, where he earned a first degree in economics. After completing a Ph.D. in economics at Harvard University at 38 years of age, White taught four years at Lawrence University in Wisconsin.

In November 1941, White sent a memorandum to Morgenthau that was widely circulated and influenced State Department planning. White called for a comprehensive peaceful solution of rapidly escalating tensions between the United States and Japan, calling for major concessions on both sides. Langer and Gleason report that White's proposals were totally rewritten by the State Department and that the American key demand had been formulated long before White. It was an insistence on Japanese withdrawal from China, which Japan totally refused to consider. The complex negotiations at the top ranks of the US government, and its key allies of Britain and China, took place in late November 1941 with no further input from White or Morgenthau. White's proposals were never presented to Japan. Revisionist historians have argued, however, that White manipulated Morgenthau and Roosevelt to provoke war with Japan in order to protect Stalin's Far Eastern front. Historian Eric Rauchway rejects that argument, claiming it is supported by fake documents. After the U.S. entered the war in December 1941, Secretary Morgenthau appointed White to act as liaison between the Treasury and the State Department on all matters bearing on foreign relations. He was also made responsible for the Exchange Stabilization Fund. White eventually came to be in charge of wartime international matters for the Treasury, with access to extensive confidential information about the economic situation of the USA and its wartime allies. He passed numerous secret documents to men he knew were Soviet spies. White was a dedicated internationalist, and his energies were directed at continuing the Grand Alliance with the USSR and maintaining peace through trade. He believed that powerful, multilateral institutions could avoid the mistakes of the Treaty of Versailles and prevent another worldwide depression. As head of the independently-funded Office of Monetary Research, White was able to hire staff without the normal civil service regulations or background enquiries. He probably was unaware that several of his hires were spies for the USSR.
QUESTION: Was he successful?
IN: Between the Buried and Me is an American progressive metal band from Raleigh, North Carolina. Formed in 2000, the band consists of Tommy Giles Rogers Jr. (lead vocals, keyboards), Paul Waggoner (lead guitar, backing vocals), Dustie Waring (rhythm guitar), Dan Briggs (bass, keyboards), and Blake Richardson (drums). Their debut eponymous album was released through Lifeforce Records in 2002, shifting to Victory Records for subsequent releases until their signing to Metal Blade in 2011, where Between the Buried and Me released their first extended play, The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues that year, and its full-length follow-up The Parallax II: Future Sequence the following year. Their seventh studio album, Coma Ecliptic, was released in 2015.

In August 2003, Between the Buried and Me traveled to Q Division Studios in Somerville, Massachusetts to record their second record, The Silent Circus, released in October the same year. It was later re-released in 2006 with a live DVD of the band's performance at The Cat's Cradle in Chapel Hill, North Carolina on July 17, 2005. Mark Castillo played drums on The Silent Circus, replacing Goodyear. After the release of The Silent Circus, the band went through numerous members before the current lineup was assembled for their third album, Alaska. On drums, Mark Castillo was replaced by Jason Roe, and later by Blake Richardson. On guitar, Fletcher was replaced by Shane Blay, and later by Dustie Waring. And on bass, King was replaced by Kevin Falk, and later by Dan Briggs. This remains the current lineup. In the summer of 2005, Between the Buried and Me released Alaska. The album released the songs "Selkies: The Endless Obsession", "The Primer", and "Backwards Marathon" as singles. In the following year, the band released their first cover album, The Anatomy Of, a collection of covers of bands that influenced Between the Buried and Me, including Metallica, King Crimson, Pantera, Faith No More, Queen, Pink Floyd, Earth Crisis, Counting Crows, and Soundgarden. In early 2006, Between the Buried and Me was on tour supporting Bleeding Through along with Every Time I Die and Haste the Day. They were also on the Ozzfest 2006 Second Stage. In late 2006, they were on the Radio Rebellion Tour headlined by Norma Jean.
QUESTION:
Did they tour in support of the album?