Today is the 266th day of 2015 and the first day of autumn.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1806, Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery returned to St. Louis from its exploration venture to the Pacific coast.

In 1845, the New York Knickerbockers baseball club was founded.

In 1846, astronomers Urbain Le Verrier, John Couch Adams and Johann Gottfried Galle discovered the planet Neptune.

In 1952, vice presidential candidate Richard Nixon gave his famous "Checkers" speech, denying allegations of improper campaign financing.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Victoria Woodhull (1838-1927), journalist/activist; Walter Lippmann (1889-1974), journalist/philosopher; Mickey Rooney (1920-2014), actor; John Coltrane (1926-1967), saxophonist; Ray Charles (1930-2004), singer-songwriter; Julio Iglesias (1943- ), singer-songwriter; Bruce Springsteen (1949- ), singer-songwriter; Jason Alexander (1959- ), actor; Ani DiFranco (1970- ), singer-songwriter; Anthony Mackie (1978- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: Nintendo, known today as a video game company, was founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi in Kyoto, Japan, on this day in 1889. The company originally produced handmade playing cards.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1988, Jose Canseco of the Oakland A's became the first member of Major League Baseball's "40-40 club," hitting 40 home runs and stealing 40 bases in a single season.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "There ain't a note that I play on stage that can't be traced back directly to my mother and father." -- Bruce Springsteen

TODAY'S NUMBER: 33 -- surviving members in Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery. Only one member of the party died during the nearly 8,000-mile expedition.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (Sept. 21) and full moon (Sept. 27).

Today is the 265th day of 2015 and the 94th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1776, the British hanged 21-year-old teacher/soldier Nathan Hale as a spy.

In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation, making all slaves in seceding states free as of Jan. 1, 1863.

In 1975, President Gerald Ford survived a second assassination attempt in three weeks when his would-be assassin was thwarted by a bystander within a group of onlookers in San Francisco.

In 1980, Iraq invaded disputed territory in the Persian Gulf, officially beginning an eight-year war with Iran.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Michael Faraday (1791-1867), scientist; Charles Brenton Huggins (1901-1997), physician; Tommy Lasorda (1927- ), baseball player/manager; Eugene Roche (1928-2004), actor; David Stern (1942- ), NBA commissioner; Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr. (1951- ), publisher; Andrea Bocelli (1958- ), singer-songwriter; Joan Jett (1958- ), singer-songwriter; Scott Baio (1960- ), actor; Bonnie Hunt (1961- ), actress; Tom Felton (1987- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: Dr. Charles Brenton Huggins was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1966 for his discovery of the relationship between hormones and cancer, which led to advancements in chemotherapy.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1969, San Francisco Giants center fielder Willie Mays hit his 600th career home run in a 4-2 victory over the San Diego Padres.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "My wife tells me one day, 'I think you love baseball more than me.' I say, 'Well, I guess that's true, but hey, I love you more than football and hockey.'" -- Tommy Lasorda

TODAY'S NUMBER: $990,445 -- purse (then the largest in the history of boxing) that Gene Tunney won for defending his heavyweight title against Jack Dempsey in the infamous "Long Count" bout held on this date in 1927.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (Sept. 21) and full moon (Sept. 27).

Today is the 264th day of 2015 and the 93rd day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1792, the French National Convention declared France a republic and voted to abolish the monarchy.

In 1937, J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit" was published.

In 1949, Chairman Mao Zedong announced the communist government of the People's Republic of China.

In 1981, the U.S. Senate unanimously approved Sandra Day O'Connor as the first female Supreme Court justice.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: H.G. Wells (1866-1946), historian/author; Chuck Jones (1912-2002), animator; Larry Hagman (1931-2012), actor; Leonard Cohen (1934- ) singer-songwriter; Henry Gibson (1935-2009), comedian/actor; Jerry Bruckheimer (1945- ), film/TV producer; Stephen King (1947- ), author; Bill Murray (1950- ), actor; Ethan Coen (1957- ), filmmaker; Rob Morrow (1962- ), actor; Cheryl Hines (1965- ), actress; Faith Hill (1967- ), singer-songwriter; Luke Wilson (1971- ), actor; Maggie Grace (1983- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: Best-selling author Stephen King wrote under two names (Stephen King and Richard Bachman) in his early career because publishers told him audiences wouldn't buy more than one book per year from the same writer.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1970, "Monday Night Football" made its ABC broadcast debut with a game between the New York Jets and the Cleveland Browns.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "'We were making the future,' he said, 'and hardly any of us troubled to think what future we were making. And here it is!'" -- H.G. Wells, "When the Sleeper Wakes"

TODAY'S NUMBER: $5.8 billion -- total worldwide box office gross (as of early September 2015) for director Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" trilogies, films based on the books by J.R.R. Tolkein.

TODAY'S MOON: First quarter moon (Sept. 21).