August 1959 in Sports History

Events in Sport

Baseball Record

Aug 2 Future Hall of Fame 1st baseman Willie McCovey hits 1st of his 521 MLB home runs in SF Giants 5-3 win v Pittsburgh Pirates

Aug 2 Milwaukee Braves outfielder Bill Bruton hits 3 triples in 11-5 win v St. Louis Cardinals; 2 of them bases loaded, first time in 20th Century
Aug 2 PGA Championship Men's Golf, Minneapolis GC: Bob Rosburg wins by 1 stroke from Jerry Barber and Doug Sanders
Aug 3 27th All Star Baseball Game: AL wins 5-3 at Memorial Coliseum, LA
Aug 3 AL beats NL 5-3 in Game 2 of All Star Baseball doubleheader (to boost player pension fund) at LA Memorial Coliseum
Aug 5 Chicago Cardinals (NFL) beat Toronto Argonauts (CFL), 55-26 in a pre-season exhibition at CNE Stadium in Toronto
Aug 14 26th NFL Chicago All-Star Game: Baltimore 29, All-Stars 0 (70,000)
Aug 14 First (American Football League) meeting is held in Chicago; charter memberships handed to Dallas, NY, Houston, Denver, LA and Minneapolis-Saint Paul; 'AFL' named following week

Golf Tournament

Aug 16 LPGA Western Open Women's Golf, Ranier G&CC: Betsy Rawls wins her second WO by 6 strokes from JoAnne Gunderson and Patty Berg

Sports History

Aug 18 Branch Rickey resigns as Pirates' CEO to be President of Continental League

Aug 22 American Football League officially named at a meeting in Dallas, Texas; charter members Dallas, NY, Houston, Denver, LA and Minneapolis-Saint Paul

Baseball Record

Aug 22 Cincinnati Reds future Baseball Hall of Fame outfielder Frank Robinson hits 3 consecutive HRs (6 RBIs) in 11-4 win over St. Louis Cardinals at Crosley Field

Aug 31 48th Davis Cup: Australia beats USA in New York (3-2)

Baseball Record

Aug 31 Sandy Koufax breaks Dizzy Dean's NL mark of 18 strikeouts in a game

Birthdays in Sport

Aug 2 Christian Larièpe, French soccer defender (FC Montceau Bourgogne) and sporting director (AS Saint-Étienne, FC Lausanne-Sport, FC Nantes), born in Montceau-les-Mines, France (d. 2023)
Aug 7 Ali Shah, Zimbabwean cricket all-rounder (3 Tests, HS 62; 28 ODIs, 18 wickets; Mashonaland), born in Harare, Zimbabwe
Aug 8 Ronald Weigel, German race walker (Olympic silver 20k, 50k 1988; bronze 50k 1992; World C'ship gold 50k 1983), born in Hildburghausen, Germany
Aug 12 Lynette Woodard, (Olympic gold 1984, Harlem Globetrotter), born in Wichita, Kansas
Aug 13 Bruce French, English cricketer (England wicketkeeper in 16 Tests 1986-88), born in Market Warsop, Nottinghamshire, England
Aug 13 Tom Niedenfuer, American baseball player (Los Angeles Dodgers), born in St. Louis Park, Minnesota

Magic Johnson (63 years old)

Aug 14 American Basketball Hall of Fame point guard, executive (5-time NBA champion, 3-time NBA Finals MVP, Olympic gold 1992), born in Lansing, Michigan

Aug 14 Frank Brickowski, American NBA player (Seattle Supersonics), born in Bayville, New York
Aug 16 Marc Sergeant, Belgian cyclist
Aug 18 Tom Prichard, American wrestler, born in Pasadena, Texas
Aug 19 Ricky Pierce, American NBA guard/forward (Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks), born in Dallas, Texas
Aug 21 Anne Hobbs, English tennis star, born in Nottingham, England
Aug 21 Bud Schultz, American tennis star, born in Meriden, Connecticut
Aug 21 Jim McMahon, NFL quarterback (Chicago Bears, San Diego Chargers, Philadelphia Eagles)
Aug 22 Denise Curry, American basketball forward (Olympic gold 1984; World C'ship gold 1979, 83), born in Fort Benton, Montana
Aug 24 Adrian Kuiper, South African cricketer (South African all-rounder), born in Johannesburg, Transvaal, South Africa
Aug 24 Michel Valke, Dutch soccer player (Sparta, Dordrecht '90), born in Zwijndrecht, Netherlands
Aug 27 Gerhard Berger, formula-1 racer (Italian Grand Prix-1988)
Aug 29 Timothy Perry Shriver, Chairman of Special Olympics and member of the Kennedy Family, born in Boston, Massachusetts
Aug 29 Tony Johnson, New Zealand rugby commentator and presenter (Newstalk ZB; TV3; SKY Television), born in Picton, New Zealand