Someone else who doesn't know history: Peter Gammons

Peter Gammons has a better grasp on the inner workings of baseball, and particularly the free agent market, than just about anyone else. But that doesn't mean he knows much history...

From his latest column:

How great is this: The producers of "West Wing" are getting several items of interest from the Eastern League champion New Hampshire Fisher Cats for upcoming episodes. Josiah Bartlet (Martin Sheen) is, of course, from a small town in New Hampshire. The only thing wrong is that in the last 40 years, the only states to have produced presidents are Georgia, Arkansas, Texas and California.

Let's review the presidents of the last 40 years.

1963-1969: Lyndon Johnson, of Texas.
1969-1974: Richard Nixon, of California.
1974-1977: Gerald Ford, of Michigan.
1977-1981: Jimmy Carter, of Georgia.
1981-1989: Ronald Reagan, of Illinois/California.
1989-1993: George H.W. Bush, of Massachusetts/Connecticut/Texas.
1993-2001: Bill Clinton, of Arkansas.
2001- : George W. Bush, of Texas.

In the case of Reagan and Bush, it's not easy to pin down which state to affiliate them with. Reagan grew up in Illinois but gained prominence in California. The elder Bush was born in Massachusetts and attended boarding school there, but his father was senator from CT and Bush entered politics in Texas.

In any case, it's absolutely false to claim that only Georgia, Arkansas, Texas and California have produced presidents in the past 40 years. Depending on how you count, Michigan, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Connecticut all have claims on presidential products.

This stuff is easy to check. Gammons needs to be more careful, and he also needs a decent editor.