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.
By the spring of 1949, the airlift was clearly succeeding, and by April it was delivering more cargo than had previously been transported into the city by rail. On 12 May 1949, the USSR lifted the blockade of West Berlin.iven the feasibility assessment made by the British, an airlift appeared to be the best course of action. One remaining concern was the population of Berlin. Clay called in Ernst Reuter, the mayor-elect of Berlin, accompanied by his aide, Willy Brandt. Clay told Reuter, Look, I am ready to try an airlift.