July 1951 in Sports History

Events in Sport

Event of Interest

Jul 2 Bill Veeck buys St Louis Browns from Bill & Charlie DeWitt; after 1953 season sells franchise to Clarence Miles, team moves to Baltimore (Orioles)

MLB Team Owner and Promoter Bill Veeck — MLB Team Owner and Promoter
Bill Veeck

Jul 2 Worcestershire cricket wicket-keeper Hugo Yarnold makes a record 6 stumpings in an innings in a 1st-class match vs Scotland at Dundee

PGA Championship

Jul 3 PGA Championship Men's Golf, Oakmont GC: Sam Snead beats Walter Burkemo, 7 & 6 for his 3rd PGA C'ship title

Jul 6 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: American Dick Savitt wins his only Wimbledon title beating Ken McGregor of Australia 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
Jul 6 British Open Men's Golf, Royal Portrush GC: Englishman Max Faulkner wins by 2 strokes from Antonio Cerdá of Argentina
Jul 7 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Doris Hart outclasses fellow American Shirley Fry 6-1, 6-0 for her only Wimbledon singles title

Event of Interest

Jul 8 Yankee Joe DiMaggio and manager Casey Stengel feud

Baseball Player Joe DiMaggio — Baseball Player
Joe DiMaggio

Baseball Hall of Fame Manager Casey Stengel — Baseball Hall of Fame Manager
Casey Stengel

Jul 10 18th All Star Baseball Game: NL wins 8-3 at Briggs Stadium, Detroit
Jul 12 NY Yankees Allie Reynolds no-hits Cleveland Indians, 8-0
Jul 14 1st color telecast of a sporting event (CBS-horse race)
Jul 14 In his last race, 1948 Triple Crown champion Citation wins the Hollywood Gold Cup by 4 lengths, to become American racing's first millionaire horse.

Historic Publication

Jul 16 Novel "Catcher in Rye" by J. D. Salinger published by Little Brown and Company

Novelist J. D. Salinger — Novelist
J. D. Salinger

Boxing Title Fight

Jul 18 Jersey Joe Walcott at 37 becomes oldest to win heavyweight champion

World Heavyweight Boxing Champion Jersey Joe — World Heavyweight Boxing Champion
Jersey Joe

Jul 29 38th Tour de France won by Hugo Koblet of Switzerland

Event of Interest

Jul 30 Ty Cobb testifies before the Emanuel Celler committee, denying that the reserve clause makes peons of baseball players

Birthdays in Sport

Jul 2 Slick Watts, NBA player (Seattle SuperSonic), born in Rolling Fork, Mississippi

Richard Hadlee

Jul 3 Sir Richard Hadlee, New Zealand cricket all-rounder (NZ 86 Tests, 3,124 runs, 431 wickets), born in Christchurch, Canterbury

Jul 4 John Alexander, Australian tennis player, politician (Australian Open doubles 1975, 82), born in Sydney, NSW
Jul 5 Rich "Goose" Gossage, American Baseball Hall of Fame relief pitcher (9-time All Star), born in Colorado Springs, Colorado
Jul 5 Johnny Rodgers, American College Football Hall of Fame wide receiver (Heisman Trophy 1972, U of Nebraska–Lincoln; Grey Cup C'ship 1974, Montreal Alouettes), born in Omaha, Nebraska
Jul 11 Sridharan Jeganathan, cricketer (two Tests for Sri Lanka v NZ 1983)
Jul 14 Judi Brown, American 400m hurdler (Olympic silver 1984), born in East Lansing, Michigan
Jul 18 Bruce Lietzke, American golfer (13 PGA Tour wins; US Senior Open 2003), born in Kansas City, Missouri (d. 2018)
Jul 19 Jayson Stark, American sportswriter (The Athletic), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Jul 20 Larry Black, 4x100 runner (Olympic gold 1972), born in Miami, Florida
Jul 26 Bobby Wadkins, American golfer (Senior Players C'ship 2006), born in Richmond, Virginia
Jul 28 Doug Collins, American basketball shooting guard (NBA All-Star 1976–79; Philadelphia 76ers), coach (Chicago, Detroit, Washington, Philadelphia) and broadcaster (CBS, NBC, TNT, TBS, ABC/ESPN), born in Christopher, Illinois
Jul 29 Dan Driessen, American baseball player
Jul 31 Evonne Goolagong Cawley, Australian tennis player (7 Grand Slam singles titles), born in Barellan, NSW

Deaths in Sport

Jul 9 Harry Heilmann, American baseball hall of famer outfielder (Detroit), dies at 56
Jul 14 Sammy Jones, Australian cricket batsman (12 Tests; NSW, Queensland, Auckland), dies at 89