Events in Sports History on July 18

  • 1878 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: Frank Hadow makes his lone Wimbledon appearance, and wins; beats defending champion Spencer Gore 7-5, 6-1, 9-7
  • 1893 Australian Harry Graham scores 107 on cricket debut Australia v England, Lord's

Wimbledon Women's Tennis

1893 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Lottie Dod beats Blanche Bingley-Hillyard 6-8, 6-1, 6-4 for her 3rd consecutive and 5th overall Wimbledon singles title

  • 1896 George Giffen is 1st to complete 1000/100 double, in 30th Test Cricket
  • 1896 Indian born K S Ranjitsinhji completes an unbeaten 154 on Test cricket debut for England in 2nd Test against Australia at Old Trafford
  • 1896 US Open Men's Golf, Shinnecock Hills: American-based Scot James Foulis wins by 3 strokes ahead of Englishman Horace Rawlins
  • 1912 Chicago Cubs get 21 hits but lose to Philadelphia Phillies in 11 innings
  • 1913 After 68 straight innings Christy Mathewson gives up a walk
  • 1914 MLB Boston Braves start 'miracle' move from last place to become World Series champs

Babe Ruth's becomes All Time HR Leader

1921 Babe Ruth achieves 139 home runs with a MLB record 575 feet hit to become the all-time home run leader in Major League Baseball, taking the title from Roger Connor

  • 1926 20th Tour de France won by Lucien Buysse of Belgium

Ty Cobb's 4,000th Hit

1927 Ty Cobb's 4,000th MLB career hit

  • 1930 SHO soccer team forms in Old Beijerland
  • 1942 1st legal New Jersey horse race in 50 years; Garden State Park track opens
  • 1943 Giants and Phillies strand record 30 baserunners, NY wins, 10-6
  • 1947 Tigers shut out Yanks 2-0, end 19 game winning streak
  • 1948 Pat Seerey of Chicago White Sox hits 4 HRs in an 11 inning game

Joe Walcott KOs Ezzard Charles

1951 Jersey Joe Walcott KOs Ezzard Charles in 7 rounds, becoming at age 37 the then oldest world heavyweight champion, at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

  • 1954 Cards losing 8-1 to Phillies begin stalling in 5th, they forfeit game
  • 1959 46th Tour de France won by Federico Bahamontes of Spain
  • 1959 William 'Bill' Wright becomes the 1st African American to win a major golf tournament (U.S. Amateur Public Links Championships)
  • 1960 Baseball's NL votes to add Houston and NY franchises
  • 1961 Commissioner Ford Frick rules Babe Ruth's record of 60 HR in 154-game sched in 1927, must be broken in 1st 154 of 162 games

Sports History

1962 Minnesota Twins Bob Allison and Harmon Killebrew hit grand slams in 1st inn & Harmon Killebrew connect in a club-record, 11-run 1st inning

Agreement of Interest

1969 Joe Namath agrees to sell interest in Bachelors 3, to stay in NFL

Baseball Record

1970 Willie Mays becomes 10th baseball player to get 3,000 hits

Tour de France

1971 58th Tour de France: Eddy Merckx of Belgium wins third straight Tour general classification as well as points and combination categories

  • 1975 Jury can't decide on trial of Dave Forbes of Boston Bruins, the 1st athlete indicted for excessive violence during play; criminal charges are not pursued, and a $1M settlement is reached with injured Minnesota North Star Henry Boucha
  • 1976 63rd Tour de France won by Lucien Van Impe of Belgium

Olympic Games

1976 Nadia Comăneci (14) becomes the first gymnast in Olympic Games history to score a perfect 10 score (doing so 7 times) at Montreal Games

British Golf Open

1982 British Open Men's Golf, Royal Troon: American Tom Watson wins his 4th Open Championship, 1 stroke clear of Peter Oosterhuis and Nick Price

  • 1983 Despite being in 1st place tie in NL East, Philadelphia Phillies (43-42) fire manager Pat Corrales, replacing him with GM Paul Owens, eventually getting to World Series (losing to Baltimore)
  • 1986 MLB Kansas City Royals announce that manager Dick Howser, 50, has a brain tumor

Baseball Record

1987 New York Yankees Don Mattingly ties record of HRs in 8 consecutive games

British Golf Open

1988 British Open Men's Golf, Royal Lytham & St. Annes: Spaniard Seve Ballesteros wins his 3rd Open title by 2 shots from Nick Price of Zimbabwe

  • 1991 Florida Marlins' logo unveiled

Meeting of Interest

1991 Mike Tyson meets Miss Black America contestants

British Golf Open

1993 British Open Men's Golf, Royal St George's GC: Australian Greg Norman fires final round 64 (–6) to win his 2nd Open title, 2 strokes ahead of Englishman Nick Faldo

  • 1994 Court upholds NBA salary cap and draft rights
  • 1994 Houston Astros tie NL comeback record, trailing 10-0, beat Cards 15-12
  • 1994 NY Jets sign USA soccer goalkeeper Tony Miola as a place kicker
  • 1999 British Open Men's Golf, Carnoustie: Scotsman Paul Lawrie wins his only major title by 3 strokes in 4-hole aggregate playoff with Jean van de Velde & Justin Leonard; recovers from 10 shots behind after 3rd round for biggest comeback in major championship history; van de Velde famously triple-bogies last hole
  • 1999 New York Yankees' David Cone becomes 15th pitcher to throw a perfect game (6-0 vs Montreal)

British Golf Open

2004 British Open Men's Golf, Royal Troon: American Todd Hamilton wins his only major title, defeating 2002 champion Ernie Els of South Africa by a stroke in a 4-hole playoff

Music Concert

2008 Billy Joel performs last of two concerts dubbed "The Last Play at Shea"; the final concert event before demolition of the 1964 baseball stadium in Flushing Meadows, Queens, NYC; featured guests include Roger Daltrey, Tony Bennett, Garth Brooks, and Paul McCartney

  • 2010 "150th Anniversary" British Open Golf, St Andrews: South African Louis Oosthuizen wins his only major title, 7 strokes clear of runner-up Lee Westwood of England
  • 2018 Kawhi Leonard is traded to the Toronto Raptors in exchange for DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Pöltl, and a protected 2019 first-round draft pick
  • 2021 108th Tour de France: Defending champion Tadej Pogačar of Slovenia becomes youngest rider to win the Tour twice; also claims Mountains and Youth classifications; Mark Cavendish wins points title

British Golf Open

2021 British Open Men's Golf, Royal St George's GC: American Collin Morikawa becomes first male in history to win his debut at 2 separate major events [2020 PGA C'ship]; beats Jordan Spieth by 2 strokes