Still, the base hit is the most basic unit in baseball, and nobody in the history of the game has gotten more of them in a single season. Ichiro, the fourth-year leadoff man from Japan, who has piled up so many great performances and lesser records, now owns one of baseball's most important marks. It has been clear since Ichiro's first season in the United States in 2001, when he had 242 hits, that he was capable of challenging Sisler.
Lead Story. U.S. begins Berlin Airlift. On this day in 1948, U.S. and British pilots begin delivering food and supplies by airplane to Berlin after the city is isolated by a Soviet Union blockade. When World War II ended in 1945, defeated Germany was divided into Soviet, American, British and French zones of occupation.
The Berlin Blockade (24 June 1948 â 12 May 1949) was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of postâWorld War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road, and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under Western control. The Soviets offered to drop the blockade if the Western Allies withdrew the newly introduced Deutsche mark from West Berlin. In response, the Western Allies organized the Berlin airlift to carry supplies to the people of West Berlin, a difficult feat given the city's population.