Events in Sports History on March 2

  • 1842 4th Grand National: Tom Olliver aboard 7/1 Gaylad wins by 4 lengths from Seventy Four
  • 1853 15th Grand National: Tom Oliver aboard Peter Simple wins his third GN Steeplechase and the stallion's second; oldest horse to win event at 15
  • 1859 21st Grand National: Chris Green aboard 7/1 Half Caste wins by only a short neck from Jean Du Quesne
  • 1874 National Association of Professional Baseball Players officially adopts the batter's box; decide any player betting on his own team will be expelled; any player betting on any other team to forfeit his pay
  • 1890 Norwegian speed skater Oskar Fredriksen sets inaugural 5,000m world record of 9:19.8 in Stockholm, Sweden

Best 9-Wicket Haul

1896 Best 9-wicket haul in cricket history; George Lohmann takes 9-28 as England beats South Africa by an innings and 197 runs in 2nd Test at Johannesburg

  • 1898 Chasing winning target of 275, Australian cricket batsman Joe Darling bashes 160 in 171 minutes with 30 fours to lead Australia to a 6-wicket 5th Test win over England in Sydney; complete 4-1 series rout
  • 1904 Stanley Cup, Montreal Arena, Westmount, Quebec: Montreal Wanderers and Ottawa HC tie, 5-5; Montreal disqualified for refusing to play second game in Ottawa

Malone's 44 Goal Season

1918 Joe Malone goes scoreless in Montreal Canadiens' 5-3 season-ending loss to Toronto Arenas; finishes the first NHL season with 44 goals, a record that stands until 1944-45

Hainsworth's Shutout Record

1929 George Hainsworth becomes first NHL goaltender to record 20 shutouts in one season when the Montreal Canadiens beat the visiting Boston Bruins, 3-0; ends season with 22

  • 1932 Australian golf trick-shot artist Joe Kirkwood posts an incredible 83 using only his putter over 18 holes at Belleaire, Florida; round includes 6 pars and 1 birdie

Bradman Scores 369

1936 Australian cricket's batting maestro Don Bradman scores 369 in 253 minutes (46 fours, 4 sixes) in South Australia's innings and 349 run win over Tasmania

  • 1951 1st NBA All-Star Game, Boston Garden: East beats West, 111-94; MVP: Ed Macauley, Boston Celtics, G

Sports History

1962 Philadelphia center Wilt Chamberlain scores 100 points, most ever by an NBA player in a single game, in Warriors' 169-147 win over NY Knicks in Hershey; 36-of-63 from field, 28-of-32 from free-throw line

  • 1963 10th ACC Men's Basketball Tournament, Reynolds Coliseum, Raleigh, NC: Duke beats Wake Forest, 68-57

Sports History

1966 Chicago Black Hawks right wing Bobby Hull becomes the NHL's first 2-time 50-goal scorer when he strikes in a 5-4 win against the Detroit Red Wings at Chicago Stadium

Sports History

1966 Jean Béliveau scores his 380th career NHL goal when Montreal ties Toronto, 3-3; moves him ahead of Ted Lindsay into the #3 spot all time, behind Gordie Howe and Maurice Richard

Sports History

1968 19 year-old American Peggy Fleming wins her 3rd consecutive World Ladies Figure Skating Championship in Geneva, Switzerland; announces her retirement, turns professional and eventually goes into broadcasting

  • 1968 Ice Dance Championship at Geneva won by Towler & Ford of Great Britain

Sports History

1969 Boston center Phil Esposito becomes first player in NHL history to record 100 points in a season when he scores 2 3rd-period goals in the Bruins' 4-0 win over the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins

Sports History

1972 American jockey Bill Shoemaker wins his record 555th stakes race aboard Royal Owl in the San Jacinto Stakes at Santa Anita; Eddie Arcaro 554

Cricket History

1974 Australian cricket batsman Greg Chappell makes 247no in drawn 1st Test vs NZ in Wellington; also hits 133 in 2nd innings; brother Ian 145 and 121 also scores twin centuries

  • 1980 Phoenix point guard Mike Bratz ends NBA free throw streak of 57 games with a miss in the Suns' 123-115 home win over the LA Lakers

Sports History

1986 Edmonton's Finnish right wing Jari Kurri scores 2 goals, including the overtime winner, to lead Oilers to a 2-1 win over Philadelphia; Kurri, 100 points for the 4th straight NHL season

  • 1986 Qualifier Kenny Knox is the last player to score in the 80’s (R3 80) and still win a PGA Tour event, the Honda Classic at TPC Eagle Trace; total 287 is highest winning score in PGA tournament history

Sports History

1986 The first million dollar purse for a handicap race is won by British bred 5-year old Greinton with Laffit Pincay Jr. aboard taking out the $1,359,500 Santa Anita Handicap

  • 1988 The flaming basketball is adopted as NBA franchise Miami Heat’s official logo from over 13,000 entries; Mark Henderson submits the winning entry

Sports History

1989 NY Mets stars Keith Hernandez and Darryl Strawberry famously nearly come to blows in front of reporters and TV crews at spring training

  • 1991 NC State point guard Chris Corchiani becomes 1st NCAA Div I player to record 1,000 career assists in a 89-84 loss to Wake Forest

Sports History

1991 St. Louis right wing Brett Hull becomes a 70-goal scorer for the 2nd straight season and has 3 assists to help the Blues earn a 4-4 tie in Philadelphia; finishes season with NHL career-best 86 goals

  • 1992 American swimmer Anita Nall breaks the 200m breaststroke world record twice in the one day at the US Swimming championships in Indianapolis; wins final in 2:25.35

Sports History

1993 Mario Lemieux undergoes his 22nd and final radiation treatment for Hodgkin lymphoma, then joins the Pittsburgh Penguins in Philadelphia and has a goal and assist in a 5-4 loss to the Flyers

  • 1993 Winnipeg Jets Finnish right wing Teemu Selänne breaks NHL record for goals by a rookie with a hat-trick in a 7-4 loss to the visiting Quebec Nordiques; passes Mike Bossy's mark of 52
  • 1995 Joe Mullen becomes 2nd NHL player to appear in 300 NHL games with 3 different teams when he plays for the Penguins in a 6-3 loss in Buffalo; Pittsburgh 379, St. Louis 301, Calgary 345

Cricket World Cup

1996 Despite Sachin Tendulkar's masterful 137 in India's 3 for 272, Sri Lanka wins Cricket World Cup match in Delhi by 6 wickets; Sanath Jayasuriya 79, Hashan Tillakaratne 70no

  • 1997 Australians Greg Blewett (214) and Steve Waugh (160) bat for the entire 3rd day of the 1st cricket Test against South Africa in Johannesburg; set up Australian innings and 196 run victory
  • 1997 Michael Andretti wins at Homestead in a Swift chassis, marking the first Champ Car victory in an American-built chassis since 1983; first-ever Champ Car start for the Swift

Sports History

2000 America's Cup, Auckland: Team New Zealand beats Italian yacht Prada Challenge by 0.48s for a 5-0 series sweep; NZ only the 2nd country in 150 years to successfully defend the Cup

  • 2000 St. Louis Blues become just the 2nd team in NHL history to win 10 straight games on the road, with a 5-2 victory in Atlanta; tie mark set by Buffalo 1983-84
  • 2002 40-year old South African boxer ‘Baby Jake’ Matlala ends his 22-year career with a 7th-round TKO win over Columbia’s Juan Herrera to retain his WBU junior flyweight title in Johannesburg
  • 2003 America's Cup, Auckland: Swiss yacht Alinghi beats Team New Zealand by 0.44s to sweep series, 5-0; Alinghi's Russell Coutts wins last 14 America's Cup races he's competed in as skipper; most in history
  • 2003 Fast bowler Andy Bichel takes career best 7 for 20 as Australia beats England by 2 wickets in a Cricket World Cup match in Port Elizabeth, South Africa; Australia unbeaten in record 12 ODI games

Sports History

2004 Indianapolis Colts sign quarterback Peyton Manning to a 7-year, $98 million deal with a $34.5 million signing bonus; largest package to date in the NFL

  • 2004 Pittsburgh Penguins end their NHL record 14-game home losing streak when they tie the visiting New York Islanders, 3-3
  • 2004 Saint Joseph's Hawks finish their college basketball season with an 82-50 win over St. Bonaventure; Hawks undefeated with a perfect 27-0 record in A-10 East Conference
  • 2011 One of cricket’s great upsets; Kevin O’Brien smokes fastest century in World Cup history off 50 balls (ends 113 off 63) to help Ireland beat England by 3 wickets in Bangalore
  • 2012 Major League Baseball confirms the postseason will be expanded from 8 to 10 teams, with an extra wild card team in each league
  • 2012 NFL establishes existence of a bounty program at the New Orleans Saints 2009-11; players given incentives to injure opposition; coach Sean Payton is suspended for 2012 season

Sports History

2019 37-year-old Swiss 20-time Grand Slam tennis champion Roger Federer beats Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 6-4 to win his 100th ATP Tour title at the Dubai Championships

  • 2019 Australian wonder horse Winx sets world record for Group 1 wins in the Chipping Norton Stakes in Sydney; stretches unbeaten run to 31 races, and her 23rd in the highest class of thoroughbred racing
  • 2024 LeBron James becomes first player in NBA history to score 40,000 regular-season points as his LA Lakers slip to a 124-114 defeat to Denver Nuggets in Los Angeles