Early Yacht Race
1661 Yachting begins in England as King Charles II beats his brother James, Duke of York in a yacht race from Greenwich to Gravesend
- 1879 Cincinnati Enquirer publishes first report on Baseball's reserve clause; rights to players retained by team upon the contract's expiration; replaced by free agency
- 1889 Dutch soccer club HFC Haarlem is founded; National champions 1946; bankrupt in 2010; merge with HFC Kennemerland, new club Haarlem Kennemerland
Baseball History
1908 Future Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Jack Chesbro records final victory for the NY Highlanders before waived and claimed by Red Sox; beats Walter Johnson and Washington Senators, 2-1
PGA Championship
1921 PGA Championship Men's Golf, Inwood CC: Walter Hagen beats former champion Jim Barnes of England 3 & 2; Hagan's third major title
- 1922 Former Chicago Staleys play first NFL game as Chicago Bears; beat Racine Legion, 6-0 at Horlick Field, Racine, Wisconsin
Baseball Record
1922 St. Louis Cardinals 2nd baseman Rogers Hornsby hits 3-for-5 in 7-1 regular season ending win v Chicago Cubs; improves batting average to .401; only MLB player to bat .400 and hit 40 HRs in same season
Paavo Nurmi World Records
1924 Finnish distance runner Paavo Nurmi runs world record 4 mile (19:15.4) & 5 mile (24:06.2) at Vilpuri, Russia
- 1924 MLB Commissioner Kenesaw Landis bans NY Giants outfielder Jimmy O'Connell & coach Cozy Dolan from World Series after they attempt to bribe Phillies shortstop Heinie Sand
- 1927 Pittsburgh Pirates with a team including 5 future Baseball Hall of Famers clinch NL pennant with 9-6 win v Cincinnati Reds; Pirates' last NL pennant until 1960
- 1928 Finnish distance runner Paavo Nurmi runs 15k world record 46:49.6 and 10 miles 50:15.0 in Berlin, Germany
- 1931 Philadelphia Athletics seek 3rd straight World Series baseball title; beat St. Louis Cardinals, 6-2 in opener at Sportsman's Park; lose series, 4-3
Sports History
1933 New York Giants make no 1st downs, but still beat the Green Bay Packers, 10-7 in a week 3 NFL matchup at Borchert Field, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- 1933 Washington Senators coach Nick Altrock plays in a MLB game at age 57 as a pinch-hitter; faces Rube Walberg of the Philadelphia A's; goes hitless in 3-0 loss
- 1944 St Louis Browns beat New York Yankees 5-2 at Sportsman's Park III to win their only AL pennant; lose World Series 4-2 to neighbour Cardinals
Baseball Record
1946 Cleveland Indians pitcher Bob Feller claims his MLB record 348th strikeout of season in a 4-1 win over Detroit; record stands for 19 years
- 1946 St. Louis Cardinals beats Brooklyn Dodgers, 4-2 in first MLB play-off game for a league championship (NL); St Louis wins series, 2-0
Sports History
1950 Connie Mack's last game as Philadelphia Athletics manager (1901-50); longest serving manager in MLB history; beat Washington Senators, 5-3 at Shribe Park
- 1950 New York Giants beat Cleveland Browns, 6-0 at Cleveland Stadium; sets Browns club record for fewest points scored by both teams; Browns go on to win NFL Championship
- 1950 Philadelphia Phillies clinch NL pennant on Dick Sisler's 3-run home run in a season ending 4-1 win v Brooklyn Dodgers; Phillies first pennant since 1913
US Women's Golf Open
1950 US Open Women's Golf, Rolling Hills CC: Babe Zaharias ties Open scoring record, -9 291 to beat amateur Betsy Rawls by 9 strokes
- 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Carl Erskine sets a Baseball World Series record with 14 strikeouts in a 3-2 Game 3 win against NY Yankees at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn
- 1955 Baltimore Colts fullback Alan Ameche becomes the first rookie in NFL history to top 100 yards rushing in his first 2 games; totals 153 against Detroit Lions after 194 yards in debut v Chicago Bears
- 1956 American jockey Johnny Heckmann becomes first to ride 7 winners at Hawthorne Race Course at Stickney/Cicero near Chicago, Illinois
- 1959 Chicago White Sox beat LA Dodgers, 11-0 in Game 1 of the Baseball World Series at Comiskey Park; White Sox first WS appearance since 1919 'Black Sox Scandal'; LA wins series 4-2
- 1960 14th NHL All-Star Game, Montreal Forum, Montreal, QC: All-Stars beat Montreal Canadiens, 2-1
Baseball Record
1961 NY Yankees right-fielder Roger Maris becomes MLB’s all-time home run leader when he passes Babe Ruth's mark with No. 61 off Boston rookie Tracy Stallard in 1-0 win at Yankee Stadium
Sports History
1967 Richard Petty continues phenomenal NASCAR winning streak by taking the Wilkes 400 at North Wilkesboro Speedway; unprecedented 10th consecutive victory
Sports History
1973 Future Baseball Hall of Fame player and manager Leo Durocher ends his 45 year career in the sport when he resigns as Houston Astros manager
The Thrilla in Manila
1975 "The Thrilla in Manila"; Muhammad Ali stops Joe Frazier in 14 rounds in Quezon City, the Philippines to retain his WBC/WBA heavyweight title
- 1976 Muhammad Ali visits Istanbul, Turkey, praying alongside Deputy Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan at Sultan Ahmet mosque [1]
Sports History
1977 Brazilian soccer great Pelé plays his final game for the New York Cosmos in an exhibition against Santos in front of 75,000 at Giants Stadium; 1,281 goals in 1,363 games
- 1977 New York Yankees end MLB season with 100-62 record; win 2nd consecutive AL East title; go on the win World Series 4-2 v LA Dodgers
Sports History
1984 Peter Ueberroth replaces Bowie Kuhn as 6th commissioner of Major League Baseball; he has a 4 year tenure
- 1988 Bradley Center in Milwaukee opens with an exhibition hockey game between Chicago Blackhawks and Edmonton Oilers; construction cost $90 million; closed 2018
- 1988 Canadian synchronised swimmer Carolyn Waldo teams with Michelle Cameron to win the duet gold medal at the Seoul Olympics; wraps up double having won individual title
Olympic Gold
1988 Flamboyant American sprinter Florence Griffith Joyner wins her third gold medal of the Seoul Olympics anchoring the victorious US 4 x 100m relay team
Sports History
1988 Lowest batting avg for NL champion (Tony Gwynn .313)
Olympic Gold
1988 Steffi Graf beats Gabriela Sabatini 6-3, 6-3 to win the women's singles tennis gold medal at the Seoul Olympics; clinches first and only Golden Slam in history (Grand Slam & Olympics)
- 1988 The inaugural Olympic table tennis program concludes in Seoul with China and South Korea each winning 2 titles
- 1988 The Soviet women's 4 x 400m relay team runs world record 3:15.17 to beat a star-studded US team and win the Olympic gold medal in Seoul; Tatyana Ledovskaya, Olga Nazarova, Mariya Pinigina & Olga Bryzgina
- 1988 Yuri Savichev scores in extra time as the Soviet Union beats Brazil 2-1 to win the men's football gold medal at the Seoul Olympics
- 1989 Dallas Cowboy defensive end, Ed "Too Tall" Jones records his 1,000th NFL tackle in a 30-13 defeat to the New York Giants at Texas Stadium
Sports History
1989 MLB batting titles are decided on final day of regular season: AL, Kirby Puckett goes 2-for-5 edges Carney Lansford .339 to .336; NL, Tony Gwynn's 3-for-4 beats Will Clark .336 to .333
- 1992 Gil Stein officially becomes only the 5th president in the NHL's 75 year history; serves for just one year before the title changed to “commissioner”
Boxing Title Fight
1993 In his first World Boxing Council heavyweight title defense Lennox Lewis beats fellow Londoner Frank Bruno by TKO in 7 at the National Stadium in Cardiff, Wales
Cricket History
1994 Australian cricket batsman David Boon scores 114 during 1 wicket, 1st Test defeat v Pakistan in Karachi; his 19th Test century
- 1994 NHL owners begin lockout of players lasting 103 days; season shortened to 48 games instead of 84; players seek collective bargaining and owners a salary cap
- 1995 Cleveland Indians end MLB season at 100-44 to set record 30 game margin over 2nd place Kansas City Royals in AL Central final standings
- 1995 Future Baseball HOF pitcher Mike Mussina tosses Baltimore Orioles' 5th consecutive MLB shutout in season ending, 4-0 victory over Detroit Tigers
F1 World Champion
1995 German Benetton driver Michael Schumacher wins the Pacific Grand Prix at the TI Circuit in Aida, Japan to clinch his 2nd straight Formula 1 World Drivers Championship
- 1995 In the 5th game of the season, Jacksonville Jaguars celebrate first-ever NFL regular season win with a 17-16 victory over the Houston Oilers at the Astrodome
- 1995 NY Yankees (AL) and Colorado Rockies (NL) become first wild-card teams in new MLB playoff system; Rox are first team to reach postseason before 7th year; post best ever record for a 3rd-year team, 10 games over .500 (77-67)
- 1997 Carolina Hurricanes lose franchise's debut NHL game, 4-2 to Tampa Bay Lightning at the Ice Palace, Tampa, Florida
- 1997 Minnesota Timberwolves NBA forward Kevin Garnett, just 2 years out of high school, signs a record 6-year, $123 million contract extension
- 1997 Zimbabwe and New Zealand tie their One Day International cricket match in Bulawayo; Black Cap tail-ender Gavin Larson is run out on last ball at 9/233 amidst crowd surging onto field; 13th ODI tie
Sports History
1999 Edmonton Oilers retire Wayne Gretzky's #99 in a pre-game ceremony before a 1-1 tie v NY Rangers, the last team for which 'The Great One' suited up in an NHL game
NBA Trade
1999 In a blockbuster NBA trade, the Houston Rockets move All Star forward Scottie Pippen to Portland Trail Blazers for Kelvin Cato, Stacey Augmon, Walt Williams, Carlos Rogers, Ed Gray and Brian Shaw
- 1999 Sourav Ganguly smashes 11 fours and 5 sixes for a blistering 139 as India (277/6) dominates Zimbabwe (170) in the 6th cricket LG Cup ODI in Nairobi
- 2000 An all-African podium for the men's marathon at the Sydney Olympics as Gezahegne Abera of Ethiopia runs 2:10:11 for the gold medal, 0.20s ahead of Kenyan Erick Wainaina with bronze to Ethiopian Tesfaye Tola
- 2000 Cuban boxer Félix Savon wins his 3rd consecutive Olympic heavyweight gold medal at the Sydney Games; easily beats Russian Sultan Ibragimov on points 21-13; retires after victory ceremony
- 2000 German canoeist Birgit Fischer teams with Katrin Wagner to win the K2 500m gold medal at the Sydney Olympics; becomes first woman to win 2 or more medals at 4 Summer Olympics; only 4th woman to win 7 career gold
- 2000 Juan Antonio Samaranch, President of the IOC declares the XXVII Olympics in Sydney, Australia the "best Olympic Games ever" at the closing ceremony
- 2000 NBA stars Ray Allen and Vince Carter each score 13 points as the US beats France 85-75 to win the men's basketball gold medal at the Sydney Olympics
- 2000 Norwegian canoeist Knut Holmann beats Petar Merkov of Bulgaria for the second consecutive day to win the K-1 500m gold medal at the Sydney Olympics; beat Markov in K-1 1000m the previous day
- 2000 Stephanie Cook of Great Britain scores 5,318 points to beat American Emily de Riel by just 8 points to win the inaugural Olympic women's modern pentathlon at the Sydney Games
- 2000 United States wins the most medals (97), and the most gold medals (40) in Summer Olympics held in Sydney, Australia
- 2002 Free agent center Wang Zhizhi, the first ever Chinese-born player in the NBA, signs a 3-year offer sheet with the Los Angeles Clippers; waived in 2003 and moves to Miami Heat
Baseball Record
2004 Seattle Mariners Japanese outfielder Ichiro Suzuki gets his 258th hit of the season, breaking George Sisler's 84-year-old MLB single-season record; Ichiro ends season on 262
- 2015 NY Yankees record the 10,000th win in their illustrious history, and also clinch wild card slot; beat the Red Sox, 4-1, at a rainy New Yankee Stadium; NY bullpen ties MLB record with their 589th victim of the season
Sports History
2017 Former NFL star O.J. Simpson is released from Nevada's Lovelock Prison after less than 9 years of detention of his 33 year sentence for armed robbery and kidnapping
- 2017 Presidents Cup Golf, Liberty National GC: Dustin Johnson stars with 4.5 points as US routs International team, 19-11; 7th straight American victory
- 2022 Stampede at Indonesian soccer stadium kills 131 people in Malang city, East Java, started after police fire teargas at rioters in the crowd [1]
- 2023 Brock Purdy sets a 49ers franchise record for highest single-game completion rate of 95.2%
- 2023 Ryder Cup Golf, Marco Simone G&CC, Rome, Italy: Europe dominates the United States 16½-11½ to regain the title; Tyrrell Hatton, Jon Rahm and Robert MacIntyre unbeaten for Europe
