Lee Smith (born December 4, 1957) is an American former pitcher in professional baseball who played 18 years in Major League Baseball (MLB) for eight teams. A native of Jamestown, Louisiana, Smith was selected by the Chicago Cubs in the 1975 MLB draft. In 1991, he set a National League (NL) record with 47 saves for the St. Louis Cardinals, and was runner-up for the league's Cy Young Award; it was the second of three times Smith led the NL in saves, and he later led the American League in saves once. At his retirement, he held the major league record for career games finished (802) and was third in games pitched (1,022). He still holds the record for career saves for the Cubs (180) and held the same record for the Cardinals (160) until 2006. After his playing career, Smith worked as a pitching instructor in Minor League Baseball for the San Francisco Giants. He served as the pitching coach for the South Africa national baseball team in the World Baseball Classics of 2006 and 2009. ( Full article...)

A Streichmelodion at the Met Museum

• ... that the Streichmelodion (pictured) was once described as being "more like a frying pan than a musical instrument"?
• ... that Stanley J. Korsmeyer published over 250 scientific papers, 23 of which were cited over 500 times?
• ... that a 1902 plan called for a town to be built in Dukes Meadows that would have been known as Burlingwick?
• ... that Bernardo Adam Ferrero wrote compositions such as Danzas alicantinas for Spanish civil and military bands that he conducted?
• ... that the Chicago Bears media guide had an asterisk next to the result of the Instant Replay Game for 10 years, noting the team's belief that the game was decided incorrectly?
• ... that Cheng Dan'an is "widely considered the father of modern acupuncture"?
• ... that in one experiment in which moor frogs were frozen solid to −16 °C (3 °F) and then thawed, a small percentage survived?
• ... that several murals from New York City's Hotel McAlpin were reinstalled in the subway after being found in a dumpster?

Jiang Zemin

• Jiang Zemin (pictured), former general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, dies at the age of 96.
• A deadly fire in Ürümqi escalates ongoing protests across China in response to the government's zero-COVID policy.
• Anwar Ibrahim of the Pakatan Harapan coalition becomes Prime Minister of Malaysia after the general election produces the nation's first hung parliament.
• An earthquake centred near Cianjur in Indonesia's West Java kills at least 323 people and injures more than 7,000 others.

December 4: Navy Day in India

Ram Mohan Roy

• 1370 – Hundred Years' War: In two separate engagements in the Battle of Pontvallain, French forces wiped out an English army which had split up because of a dispute between the commanders.
• 1829 – Sati, the Hindu funeral custom of a widow's self-immolation on her husband's pyre, was prohibited by Lord William Bentinck in parts of British India after years of campaigning by Ram Mohan Roy (pictured).
• 1909 – The Montreal Canadiens, the oldest professional ice hockey club in the world, were founded as a charter member of the National Hockey Association.
• 1928 – Cosmo Gordon Lang was enthroned as the Archbishop of Canterbury, the first bachelor to be appointed in 150 years.
• 1971 – The Troubles: The Ulster Volunteer Force, an Ulster-loyalist paramilitary group, detonated a bomb at a Catholic-owned pub in Belfast, Northern Ireland, killing 15 people.