This painting is about the first metal detector, and the small print reads:
The first metal detector was invented by Alexander Graham Bell when the 20th president of the United States, James Abram Garfield, was shot in the back.
16 leading surgeons of the day rushed to Washington, but couldn’t find the bullet.
So young Alexander made his invention and tried to help.
Unfortunately, the President was lying on a new-fangled bed – one with metal coils in it – and young Alexander mistook them for bullets.
The 16 surgeons consequently made the original 4-inch hole in the President’s back into a 20-inch gash. And since no one had thought up the idea of sterilization yet, the surgeons were all using dirty instruments.
The President died of infection about 3 months later, on September 19, 1881.
What does this have to do with the Cubs?
Nothin’.
But if you look this story up on-line, there are many different versions and they all look official and real.
Which is what I like about this time of year for baseball.
How many stories are just somebody’s carefully researched guess?
A-Rod and contracts, Bonds and cream and clear, the implications of instant replay, trades…
It’ll be interesting to see what comes true.
