Events in Sport
- 1879 British Open Men's Golf, St Andrews: Scotsman Jamie Anderson wins by 3 shots from countrymen Jamie Allen & Andrew Kirkaldy; 3rd consecutive title
- 1881 Chicago Cubs beat Troy 10-8 before record small "crowd" of 12
Baseball Record
1923 NY Yankee Lou Gehrig hits 1st of his 493 HRs
Lou Gehrig
Golf Tournament
1930 US Amateur Championship Men's Golf, Merion GC: Bobby Jones scores an 8 & 7 win over Eugene V. Homans to win his 5th National Amateur title and clinch golf's Grand Slam
Bobby Jones
- 1930 Cub's Hack Wilson's 2 HRs give him NL record 56 HRs
- 1931 MLB's Lou Gehrig completes his 6th straight season, playing in every game (.3486) Jim Bottomley (.3481)
- 1931 Closest NL batting race ends St. Louis Cardinals Chick Hafey's .34889 beats N.Y. Giants Bill Terry's .34861 [1]
- 1935 Chicago Cubs win 21st consecutive game & clinch NL pennant
- 1936 First baseman Walter Alston plays in his only major league game for the St. Louis Cardinals; manages Brooklyn/LA Dodgers for 23 years
- 1936 Boston Redskins and Brooklyn Dodgers play one of only 4 penalty free games in NFL history; Boston wins 14-3 at Ebbets Field, Brooklyn
- 1939 White Sox host 1st "day-night" doubleheader, lose to Cleve, 5-2 & 7-5
- 1940 Floyd Giebells, 1st game, 2-0 pennant clinching beating Bob Feller
- 1940 Yankees, lose to A's & eliminated from pennant for 1st time since 1935
- 1942 NY Giants beat Wash Redskins 14-7 without making a 1st down
Boxing Title Fight
1950 Heavyweight champion Ezzard Charles defeats Joe Louis in 15 in Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York
Ezzard Charles
Joe Louis
Baseball Record
1961 Sandy Koufax sets NL strikeout season record at 269
Sandy Koufax
- 1964 Despite 3 HRs by Johnny Callison, Phils are 14-8 losers to Braves
- 1964 Phillies 7th straight loses sends them into 2nd place
- 1967 Phillies Jim Bunning ties NL record of 5, 1-0 losses in a year
- 1968 Cardinals' super pitcher Bob Gibson's 13th shutout of year
- 1970 Ken Boswell sets 2nd baseman record of 85 games without an error
- 1972 1st game at Nassau Coliseum, Rangers beat Islanders 6-4 (exhibition)
Baseball Record
1973 Nolan Ryan strikes out 16 in 11 innings, for record 383 of season
Nolan Ryan
Event of Interest
1983 Tim Raines is 1st since Ty Cobb to steal 70 & drive in 70 runs
Tim Raines
Ty Cobb
- 1987 Ryder Cup Golf, Muirfield Village GC: Europe beats US, 15-13; after 13-0 unbeaten record spanning 60 years, US loses for first time on home soil
- 1987 NFL players' strike begins in the US
- 1987 Atlanta Braves Phil Niekro's final MLB appearance, he surrenders for 5 runs in 3 innings against the San Francisco Giants
World Record
1988 Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson is disqualified from the Seoul Olympics 100m after his urine sample found to contain steroid stanozolol; American Carl Lewis awarded gold medal and world record 9.92
Carl Lewis
Olympic Gold
1988 American diver Greg Louganis wins the 10m platform gold medal at the Seoul Olympics; wraps up diving double after also taking out the 3m springboard gold
Greg Louganis
- 1988 East German cyclist Olaf Ludwig wins the men's road race in 4:32:22 at the Seoul Olympics; beats West German pair Bernd Gröne & Christian Henn
- 1990 Tour de France champion Greg LeMond visits White House
- 1991 1st scheduled NHL exhibition game in St Petersburg Fla, is cancelled due to poor ice conditions (NY Islanders vs Boston Bruins)
- 1992 LA Dodgers for 1st time in history clinch last place
- 1992 Pittsburgh Pirates win their 3rd straight NL East title
- 1996 Baltimore Oriole Roberto Alomar spits in face of umpire John Hirschbeck
Olympic Gold
2000 United States baseball team, managed by Tommy Lasorda, wins Olympic Gold Medal in Sydney, Australia
Tommy Lasorda
- 2005 Atlanta Braves clinch their 14th straight division title thanks to Philadelphia's loss to the New York Mets
Event of Interest
2008 Greg Maddux wins his final start of his career (#355)
Greg Maddux
- 2014 New Zealand's All Blacks scores 4 tries to beat Argentina, 34-13 in La Plata and claim their 3rd straight Rugby Championship; All Blacks first five eighth Beauden Barrett kicks 6 from 6
Birthdays in Sport
- 1881 William Clothier, American tennis player (US Nat C'ships 1906; 1st President International Hall of Fame 1954), born in Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania (d. 1962)
- 1895 Woolf Barnato, British financier and racing driver, born in Spencer House, London (d. 1948)
- 1905 Ernst Baier, German figure skater (Olympic gold 1936), born in Zittau, Saxony, Germany (d. 2001)
- 1919 Johnny Pesky, American baseball player, (d. 2012)
- 1929 Ken McCaffery, Australian rugby league centre (12 Tests; North Sydney; Queensland), broadcaster (9 Network) and administrator (North Sydney DRLFC), born in Sydney, Australia (d. 2021)
- 1932 Geoff Bent, English soccer fullback (Manchester United 12 games; died Munich air disaster), born in Salford, Lancashire (d. 1958)
- 1934 Dick Schaap, sportscaster/author (Bo Knows Bo, Instant Replay)
- 1935 Jerome Shipp, American basketball (Olympic gold 1964)
- 1935 Mamie "Peanut" Johnson, American professional baseball player at 1st female pitcher to play in the Negro Leagues, born in Ridgeway, South Carolina (d. 2017)
- 1935 John Stanford, American college baseball coach/administrator (Middle Tennessee), born in Opelousas, Louisiana (d. 2013)
- 1935 Al MacNeil, Canadian NHL defenceman, coach (Montreal Canadiens Stanley Cup 1970-71), born in Sydney, Nova Scotia
Kathy Whitworth
1939 Kathy Whitworth, American golfer (7-time LPGA Player of Year, 6 major titles, record 88 LPGA Tour wins), born in Monahans, Texas
Kathy Whitworth
Mike Schmidt
1949 Mike Schmidt, American Baseball Hall of Fame 3rd baseman (NL MVP 1980-81, 86; 12-time MLB All Star), born in Dayton, Ohio
Mike Schmidt
- 1952 André Viger, French Canadian wheelchair marathoner (3 Paralympics gold medals), born in Windsor, Ontario (d. 2006)
- 1953 Benjamin Gene Brown, 4X400 runner (Olympic gold 1976), born in San Francisco, California
- 1953 Claudio Gentile, Italian footballer
- 1957 Bill Athey, cricketer (England batsman in 23 Tests 1980-88)
- 1957 Richard Vagg, Australian baseball infielder (Olympics 1996)
- 1959 Beth Heiden, American 3000m speed skater (Olympic bronze 1980), born in Madison, Wisconsin
- 1962 Gavin Larsen, New Zealand cricket fast/medium bowler (8 Tests, 24 wickets; 121 ODIs, 113 wickets; chairman selectors), born in Wellington, New Zealand
- 1963 Caren Metschuck, German DR, 100m butterfly swimmer (Olympic gold 1980)
- 1965 Steve Kerr, American basketball guard, head coach (5 NBA titles as player Chicago Bulls, SA Spurs - 3 as coach GS Warriors), born in Beirut, Lebanon
- 1967 Jason Dungjen, pairs skater (with partner Kyoko Ina), born in Detroit, Michigan
- 1967 Uche Okechukwu, Nigerian international soccer player
- 1968 Mark Bradtke, Australian basketball center (Olympics 1988, 92, 96), born in Adelaide, South Australia
- 1968 Rob Moore, NFL wide receiver (NY Jets, Arizona Cardinals)
- 1968 Scott Conover, NFL tackle (Detroit Lions)
- 1969 Laura Wilson, cross country skier (Olympics 1994), born in Utica, New York
- 1969 Lester Holmes, NFL guard (Philadelphia Eagles)
- 1969 Robert Jones, NFL linebacker (Dallas Cowboys)
- 1971 Alonzo Spellman, NFL defensive end (Chicago Bears)
- 1971 Erik Smit, Dutch soccer player (FC Utrecht)
- 1972 Clara Hughes, cyclist (Olympics 2 bronze-96), born in Winnipeg, Manitoba
- 1972 Laurie Shepard, Cordele, GA, female pitcher (Colo Silver Bullets)
- 1972 Malachy Loye, cricketer (Northamptonshire & England "A" batsman)
- 1972 Sylvia Crawley, American basketball player
- 1972 Bibian Mentel-Spee, Dutch para-snowboarding athlete (Winter Paralympics gold snowboard cross 2014, 18; banked slalom 2018; 5 x gold World C'ship), born in Utrecht, Netherlands (d. 2021)
- 1973 Larry McSeed, CFL linebacker (Montreal Alouettes)
- 1973 Tina Nicholson, WNBA guard (Cleveland Rockers)
- 1974 Edward Thomas, CFL linebacker (Montreal Alouettes)
- 1975 Ed Gray, NBA guard (Atlanta Hawks)
- 1975 Tajama Abraham, WNBA center (Sacramento Monarchs)
- 1976 Francesco Totti, Italian footballer
- 1976 Jason Phillips, American baseball player
- 1977 Andrus Värnik, Estonian javelin thrower
- 1978 Jon Rauch, American baseball player
- 1979 Jon Garland, American baseball player
- 1979 Christian Jones, Australian racing driver
- 1979 Steve Simpson, Australian rugby league footballer
- 1981 Lakshmipathy Balaji, Indian cricketer
- 1981 Brendon McCullum, New Zealand cricketer
- 1984 John Lannan, American baseball player
- 1986 Ricardo Risatti, Argentine racing driver
- 1989 Park Tae-Hwan, South Korean swimmer
- 1991 Adam Chicksen, English Football Player
- 1991 Simona Halep, Romanian tennis player (French Open 2018, Wimbledon 2019), born in Constanța, Romania
Weddings in Sport
Wedding of Interest
1934 Baseball player and manager Leo Durocher (28) weds businesswoman Grace Dozier
Leo Durocher
Wedding of Interest
2009 Businesswoman and TV personality Khloé Kardashian (28) weds NBA basketball forward Lamar Odom (32) in Beverly Hills, California
Khloé Kardashian
Deaths in Sport
- 1919 Robert Gleeson, cricketer (one Test for South Africa 1895-96), dies
- 1943 Willoughby Hamilton, Irish tennis, soccer player (Wimbledon 1890; Ireland 1 cap), dies at 78
- 1956 Babe Didrikson Zaharias, American all-round athlete (10 LPGA majors, Olympic gold medals 80m hurdles, javelin 1932), dies of colon cancer at 45
- 1963 Andy Coakley, American baseball player and long-time coach at Columbia University, dies at 80
- 1977 Jock Hutchison, Scottish golfer (PGA C'ship 1920, British Open 1921), dies at 93
- 1982 Ralph Baldwin, Canadian harness driver and trainer (11 major world records; Hambletonian Stakes 1963, 73), dies at 66
- 1984 John Facenda, sportscaster (NFL Action), dies at 72
- 1998 Doak Walker, American College and Pro Football Hall of Fame halfback (Heisman Trophy 1948; Pro Bowl 1950-51, 53–55; First-team All-Pro 1950–51, 53–54; Detroit Lions), dies from ski accident injuries at 71
- 1998 Narita Brian, Japanese racehorse, world's top earner until 2000 (b. 1991)
- 2010 George Blanda, American NFL kicker and quarterback (Bears, Oilers, Raiders), dies at 83
- 2011 Dave Hill, American golfer (13 PGA Tour titles), dies of emphysema at 74
- 2013 Gates Brown, American MLB player (Detroit Tigers: 1963-75), dies at 74
- 2015 Frank Tyson, England Test cricket fast bowler/broadcaster (17 Tests, 76 wickets @ 18.56), dies at 85
