In 1494 — which sometimes seems like just the other day until I think, ‘No, that was 1495 I’m thinking about, not 1494,’ but who among us hasn’t made THAT mistake, right? – on this very day, this very date I mean, in 1494, “Piero the Unfortunate of the de’ Medici family, ruler of Florence, loses his power and flees the state.” I am copying that from a history website and now I am frantically looking up Piero the Unfortunate because, with a nickname like that, I have to.

Pierro the Unfortunate… 

Was he, like me, a Baltimore Orioles fan?

Was he just clumsy?

Did he look funny in a hat?

Did a ball go through his legs during Game 6 of the 1493 World Series? (And what a Game 6 it was! Madrid won Game 7 with ease but, I mean, after Game 6, was there ever really any doubt?

Was he not named ‘the Unfortunate’ until AFTER he lost power?

And why did he lose power? Did a storm come through and knock a light pole down? Did somebody intentionally sabotage his home? Did the de’ Medici family, notorious for not paying their cable bill on time, ignore their Swepco of Italy bill too?

Turns out he was simply an unfit ruler, young and arrogant, so they ran him out of Tuscany and told him not to let the door hit him in the you-know-what on the way out. Which it did, unfortunately.

Why I bring this up I don’t know because I went back through the microfilm and this didn’t even make the “A” section of next day’s paper on Nov. 10, 1494. Chris Columbus was still getting ALL the ink! Discover a new world and the story gets legs…Chris Columbus the Fortunate.

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