July 1998 in Sports History

Events in Sport

Jul 1 NBA commences a player lockout after no agreement with players about salary issues - lasts 204 days with the season shortened by 50 games

Wimbledon Women's Tennis

Jul 4 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Czech Jana Novotná beats Nathalie Tauziat of France 6-4, 7-6 for her first and only Grand Slam singles title

Tennis Player & Wimbledon Champion Jana Novotna

Jul 5 NY Yankees beat Baltimore Orioles 1-0 to improve record to 61-20, equalling best 81-game start in MLB history

Baseball Record

Jul 5 Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Roger Clemens collects his 3,000th career strikeout in 2-1 win vs Tampa Bay (11th to achieve milestone)

Wimbledon Men's Tennis

Jul 5 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: Pete Sampras retains title; beats Goran Ivanišević 6-7, 7-6, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 for his 5th of 7 Wimbledon singles crowns

Jul 6 England cricket spin bowler Robert Croft saves England from defeat with a famous unbeaten 37 in 190 minutes on day 5 of 2nd Test v South Africa at Old Trafford, Manchester

US Women's Golf Open

Jul 6 US Open Women's Golf, Blackwolf Run: Se Ri Pak of South Korea wins a 20-hole Monday playoff over American amateur Jenny Chuasiriporn

Jul 7 69th MLB All Star Game, Coors Field, Denver: In the highest scoring AS Game in history, AL wins 13-8

FIFA World Cup

Jul 12 FIFA World Cup Final, Stade de France, Saint-Denis: Zinedine Zidane scores twice as France wins first World Cup beating Brazil, 3-0

Football Player and Manager Zinedine Zidane

Senior Players Championship

Jul 12 Senior Players Championship Men's Golf, TPC of Michigan: Gil Morgan wins his 3rd Champions Tour major title by 3 strokes from Hale Irwin

Jul 19 British Open Men's Golf, Royal Birkdale GC: Mark O'Meara wins his 2nd major championship of the year (Masters) and first Open title by 2 in a 4-hole aggregate playoff with fellow American Brian Watts

Jul 26 US Senior Open Men's Golf, Riviera CC: Hale Irwin wins by 1 stroke ahead of Vicente Fernández of Argentina

Birthdays in Sport

Jul 22 Federico Valverde, Uruguayan football player (Real Madrid, Uruguay), born in Montevideo, Uruguay
Jul 23 Deandre Ayton, Bahamian basketball center (2018 NBA Draft: #1 pick Phoenix Suns), born in Nassau, Bahamas
Jul 28 Nelly Korda, American golfer (US Women's PGA C'ship 2021; Olympic gold 2021), born in Bradenton, Florida

Deaths in Sport

Jul 3 Duncan White, Ceylonese athlete (first Olympic medallist from Ceylon, silver 400m hurdles 1948), dies at 80
Jul 5 Sid Luckman, American College-Pro Football HOF quarterback (Columbia University; 4 × NFL C'ship 1940, 41, 43, 46; NFL MVP 1943; 5 × First-team All-Pro; 3 × Pro Bowl; Chicago Bears), dies at 81
Jul 11 Lilí Álvarez, Spanish tennis player (Wimbledon runner-up 1926-28), dies at 93
Jul 13 Red Badgro, American Pro Football Hall of Fame end and coach (NY Giants) and baseball outfielder (St. Louis Browns), dies after a fall at 95
Jul 15 Gennadi Volnov, Russian basketball player (Olympic gold 1972), dies at 68
Jul 19 Elmer Valo, American baseball outfielder (one of only 4, four-decade MLB players 1939-61; Philadelphia, KC Athletics), dies at 77
Jul 27 Bill Tuttle, American baseball player (Detroit Tigers), dies at 69
Jul 30 Laila Schou Nilsen, Norwegian alpine skier (Olympic bronze combined; won non-medal downhill 1936) and speed skater (unofficial World C'ship gold 1935, 37, 38; 5 x WR), dies at 79