On This Day

Events in Sport on August 31

  • 1881 1st US men's single tennis championships (Newport, Rhode Island)
  • 1891 US National Championship Men's Tennis, Newport R.I.: Defending champion Oliver Campbell beats Clarence Hobart 2-6, 7-5, 7-9, 6-1, 6-2; second of 3 straight titles
  • 1894 Phillies Billy Hamilton steals 7 bases
  • 1900 Dodgers' Brickyard Kennedy walks 6 straight Phillies
  • 1903 New York Giants future Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Joe McGinnity wins his 3rd doubleheader of month, beating the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-1 and 9-2 at the Polo Grounds
  • 1904 US National Championship Men's Tennis, Newport, RI: Holcombe Ward beats William Clothier 10-8, 6-4, 9-7 for his lone major singles title
  • 1905 25th US National Championship Men's Tennis, Newport, RI: Beals Wright beats defending champion Holcombe Ward 6-2, 6-1, 11-9 for his lone major singles title
  • 1909 A J Reach Co patents cork-centered baseball
  • 1909 Swedish runner Thure Johansson runs world record marathon (2:40:34.2) in Stockholm
  • 1913 Soccer club PSV forms in Eindhoven, Netherlands
  • 1915 Chicago White Sox Jimmy Lavender no-hits NY Giants, 2-0
  • 1918 Boston Red Sox, win earliest AL pennent ever (season ended Sept 2)

Sports record brokenWorld Record

1924 Paavo Nurmi runs world record 10,000m (30:06.2)

Runner nicknamed the
Runner nicknamed the "Flying Finn"
Paavo Nurmi
  • 1934 1st NFL Chicago All-Star Game: Chicago Bears 0, All-Stars 0 (79,432)
  • 1935 Chicago White Sox Vern Kennedy no-hits Cleveland Indians, 5-0
  • 1938 5th NFL Chicago All-Star Game: All-Stars 28, Washington 16 (74,250)

  • 1947 NY Giants set season record for HRs by a club 183 (en route to 221)

Sports record brokenBaseball Record

1950 Dodger Gil Hodges hits 4 HRs & a single in a game vs Braves

MLB First Baseman Gil Hodges
MLB First Baseman
Gil Hodges
  • 1954 Indians beat Yanks 6-1 for record tying 26 wins in August (1931 A's)
  • 1954 Cincinnati 1st baseman Ted Kluszewski hits 2 HRs in a 9-3 loss v Phillies; 1st Redleg to ever hit 40 MLB HRs, en route to season total 49
  • 1959 48th Davis Cup: Australia beats USA in New York (3-2)

Sports record brokenBaseball Record

1959 Sandy Koufax breaks Dizzy Dean's NL mark of 18 strikeouts in a game

Baseball Pitcher Sandy Koufax
Baseball Pitcher
Sandy Koufax
  • 1960 US sweeps the medals in the shot put at the Rome Olympics; Bill Nieder wins gold with 19.68m ahead of countrymen Parry O'Brien and Dallas Long
  • 1966 Referee Leo Horn whistles his last soccer match (Ajax-Bulgaria)
  • 1968 68th US Golf Amateur Championship won by Bruce Fleisher
  • 1968 Gary Sobers becomes the first cricketer to hit 6 sixes in one over
  • 1970 59th Davis Cup: USA beats Germany in Cleveland (5-0)
  • 1971 Adrienne Beames runs female world record marathon (2:46:30)
  • 1972 Lasse Viren runs Olympic/world record 10,000m (27:38.4)

OlympicsOlympic Gold

1972 Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut wins balance beam & floor exercise gold medals at the Munich Olympics; follows gold in the teams all-round

Gymnast Olga Korbut
Gymnast
Olga Korbut

Sports record brokenWorld Record

1972 American super swimmer Mark Spitz wraps up the Olympic butterfly double with a world record 54.27 in the 100m in Munich, having already won the 200m in world record time 2:00.70

Swimmer Mark Spitz
Swimmer
Mark Spitz
  • 1972 American 4 x 200m freestyle relay team of John Kinsella, Fred Tyler, Steve Genter & Mark Spitz swim a world record 7:35.78 to beat West Germany for the gold medal at the Munich Olympics
  • 1972 Australian swimmer Gail Neall with a world record 5:02.97 wins the 400m individual medley gold medal at the Munich Olympics
  • 1979 In the battle of American teenage tennis prodigies, 16 year old Tracy Austin beats 14 year old Andrea Jaeger 6-2, 6-2 in the 2nd round at US Open
  • 1980 80th US Golf Amateur Championship won by Hal Sutton
  • 1981 Dirk Wellham scores 103 on Test Cricket debut, v England at Lord's
  • 1984 Pinklon Thomas beats Tim Witherspoon in 12 for heavyweight boxing title

Event of interestEvent of Interest

1985 Ángel Cordero Jr. becomes 3rd jockey to ride horses earning over $100m

Jockey Ángel Cordero Jr.
Jockey
Ángel Cordero Jr.
  • 1987 Curtis Strange sets golf's earning for year record ($697,385)
  • 1990 Dennis Eckersley saves his 40th game of the season

Event of interestEvent of Interest

1990 Baseball outfielders Ken Griffey and Ken Griffey Jr. become the 1st father and son to play on same team (Seattle Mariners), the pair hit back-to-back singles in the first inning and both scored

Baseball Hall of Fame Outfielder Ken Griffey Jr.
Baseball Hall of Fame Outfielder
Ken Griffey Jr.
  • 1991 Houston QB David Klingler sets NCAA record with 6 touchdown passes in the 2nd quarter as the Cougars clobbered Louisiana Tech 73-3
  • 1993 Minnesota Twins beat Cleveland Indians 5-4 in 22 innings

Event of interestEvent of Interest

1994 Pentium computer beats world chess champ Garry Kasparov

Chess Grandmaster and Political Activist Garry Kasparov
Chess Grandmaster and Political Activist
Garry Kasparov

Event of interestEvent of Interest

1997 Don Mattingly's #23 is retired by NY Yankees

MLB 1st Baseman Don Mattingly
MLB 1st Baseman
Don Mattingly
  • 1997 Eddie George runs for 216 yards on 35 carries and scores a touchdown as the Oilers, playing their first NFL game in Tennessee, beat Oakland 24-21 in overtime at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis

Event of interestEvent of Interest

1999 Dino Ciccarelli retires from the NHL

NHL Star Dino Ciccarelli
NHL Star
Dino Ciccarelli

Event of interestEvent of Interest

2003 The Tradition Senior Men's Golf, Reserve Vineyards & GC: Tom Watson wins his third of 6 Champions Tour majors by 1 stroke from Jim Ahern & Tom Kite

Golfer Tom Watson
Golfer
Tom Watson
  • 2019 Minnesota Twins smash 6 HRs in 10-7 loss to the Tigers in Detroit; break MLB record by hitting 268th home run of the season

August in Sport

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