July 1939 in Sport

Events in Sport

  • Jul 4 Red Sox 3rd baseman Jim Tabor hits record-tying 2 grand slams in one MLB game, 18-12 win v Phillies

Event of interestEvent of Interest

Jul 4 Lou Gehrig is first MLB player to have his number (4) retired on his "Appreciation Day" at Yankee Stadium, makes iconic "luckiest man" speech

Baseball Player Lou Gehrig
Baseball Player
Lou Gehrig

Sport awardTennis Open

Jul 7 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: American Alice Marble wins her only Wimbledon singles title beating Kay Stammers of England 6-2, 6-0

Tennis Champion Alice Marble
Tennis Champion
Alice Marble

Sport awardTennis Open

Jul 7 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: Bobby Riggs beats fellow American Elwood Cooke 2-6, 8-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 for Wimbledon sweep, also won doubles & mixed doubles titles

Tennis Player and Three-Time Major Champion Bobby Riggs
Tennis Player and Three-Time Major Champion
Bobby Riggs
  • Jul 7 British Open Golf, St Andrews: In the last Open played for 7 years, due to WWII, England's Dick Burton wins by 2 strokes from American Johnny Bulla
  • Jul 9 A meeting of 6,000 Indians, held at the Indian Sports Ground in Johannesburg South Africa, launch the Passive Resistance Campaign against apartheid and racial policy in South Africa
  • Jul 11 7th All Star Baseball Game: AL wins 3-1 at Yankee Stadium, New York NY Yankee/AL maanager Joe McCarthy starts 6 Yankees

Sport awardPGA Championship

Jul 17 PGA Championship, Pomonok CC: 1938 Masters champion Henry Picard wins his 2nd major title defeating Byron Nelson with a birdie at the 37th hole

Golfer Byron Nelson
Golfer
Byron Nelson
  • Jul 25 NY Yankee Atley Donald sets AL rookie record with 12 consecutive win
  • Jul 26 Yankee catcher Bill Dickey hits 3 consecutive HRs
  • Jul 30 Tour de France: Sylvère Maes of Belgium wins his 3rd title from Frenchman René Vietto

Birthdays in Sport

  • Jul 5 Booker Edgerson, American football player
  • Jul 6 Helena Dupont, American equestrian 3-day even (Olympic-33rd place-1964)
  • Jul 6 Man Mohan Sood, cricketer (scored 0 & 3 in his only Test for India)
  • Jul 6 Mary Peters, England, pentathlete (Olympic gold 1972)
  • Jul 7 Laurie Silvers, horse trainer
  • Jul 11 Larry Laoretti, American golfer (US Seniors Open 1992), born in Mahopac, New Jersey
  • Jul 15 Haseeb Ahsan, Pakistani cricket off-spinner (12 Tests 1958-62)
  • Jul 15 Tony Bullimore, British yachtsman (1997 solo around-the-world yacht race, dramatic rescue), born in Southend-on-Sea, England (d. 2018)
  • Jul 18 Jerry Moore, American football player and coach, born in Bonham, Texas
  • Jul 24 Bob Lilly, NFL defensive tackle (Dallas Cowboys)
  • Jul 24 Walter Bellamy, New Bern NC, NBA center (Knicks/Olympic gold 1960), (d. 2013)
  • Jul 27 Irv Cross, American NFL sportscaster (CBS-TV), born in Hammond, Indiana
  • Jul 31 Roger Prideaux, English cricketer (England batsman in 3 Tests 1968-69), born in Chelsea, London

Deaths in Sport

  • Jul 7 Deacon White, American baseball player and a star during the first two decades of the sport's professional era, dies at 91
  • Jul 19 Tom Hayward, English cricketer (35 Tests for England, 1999 runs), dies at 68