Events in Sports History on August 2

  • 1864 Saratoga Racecourse, America's oldest Thoroughbred racetrack, opens its inaugural meet with four days of racing
  • 1906 Chicago White Sox beat Boston Americans, 3-0 to start AL record 19 game MLB win streak

Walter Johnson's First Game

1907 Legendary pitcher Walter Johnson at 19 begins his 21 year Baseball Hall of Fame playing career with Washington with 3-2 loss v Detroit

  • 1912 US Open Men's Golf, CC of Buffalo: John McDermott successfully defends title by 2 strokes from Tom McNamara
  • 1921 After 3 hours deliberation a Chicago jury acquits 8 Chicago White Sox accused in Black Sox scandal; next day they are banned from organised baseball for life
  • 1924 A's 1st baseman Joe Hauser sets AL record of 14 total bases in a game; 3 HRs and a double as Philadelphia beats Cleveland Indians, 12-4 at Dunn Field
  • 1929 Philadelphia 1st baseman Don Hurst sets NL record of 6 consecutive games with a HR in Phillies' 2-0 win v Pittsburgh Pirates
  • 1936 A Finnish trifecta in the 10,000m final at the Berlin Olympics; Ilmari Salminen beats teammates Arvo Askola and Volmari Iso-Hollo
  • 1936 Americans Cornelius Johnson, Dave Albritton and Delos Thurber sweep the high jump medals at the Berlin Olympics
  • 1936 Tour de France: Sylvère Maes of Belgium wins his second title from Frenchman Antone Magne
  • 1938 MLB conducts the first test of bright yellow baseballs during Dodgers vs Cardinals doubleheader
  • 1948 Danish swimmer Greta Anderson (1:06.3) touches out American Ann Curtis by 0.2 in the women's 100m freestyle at the London Olympics
  • 1948 Fanny Blankers-Koen of the Netherlands wins the 100m in 11.9 at the London Olympics; 1st of unprecedented 3 individual track & field gold medals
  • 1948 Italians Adolfo Consolini and Giuseppe Tosi go 1-2 in the men's discus final at the London Olympics

Patterson KOs Tita

1952 17 year-old future world champion Floyd Patterson wins the gold medal in the middleweight division at the Helsinki Olympic Games with a 1st round KO of Romanian Vasile Tita

Willie McCovey's 1st HR

1959 Future Hall of Fame 1st baseman Willie McCovey hits 1st of his 521 MLB home runs in SF Giants 5-3 win v Pittsburgh Pirates

  • 1959 Milwaukee Braves outfielder Bill Bruton hits 3 triples in 11-5 win v St. Louis Cardinals; 2 of them bases loaded, first time in 20th Century
  • 1959 PGA Championship Men's Golf, Minneapolis GC: Bob Rosburg wins by 1 stroke from Jerry Barber and Doug Sanders
  • 1960 Baseball's new Continental League formally disbands without ever having played a game after established MLB promise of expansion including New York City achieved the owners' desired effect; on August 2, 1960, the Continental League formally disbanded.
  • 1961 St Louis Cardinals (NFL) beat Toronto Argonauts (CFL) 36-7 in an exhibition game in Toronto, Canada
  • 1967 NFL New Orleans Saints play 1st ever pre-season game, lose to Los Angeles Rams 16-7 at Anaheim Stadium in California
  • 1968 Ron Hansen (Washington Senators) & Tim Cullen (Chicago White Sox) become the first MLB players to be traded for each other twice in the same season; they had been traded in February in opposite directions

Sports History

1973 Future Baseball Hall of Fame 3rd baseman George Brett gets his 1st MLB hit on debut for the Kansas City Royals in 3-1 win over Chicago White Sox

  • 1977 In his comeback Test, England cricket batsman Geoff Boycott is unbeaten on 80 after a 1st innings 107 as England beats Australia by 7 wickets in the 3rd Test at Trent Bridge
  • 1979 MLB New York Mets purchase contract of outfielder José Cardenal from Philadelphia Phillies between games of a double-header between the two teams
  • 1979 Washington, D.C. trial attorney Edward Bennett Williams buys MLB's Baltimore Orioles from Jerold Hoffberger for reported $12.3 million
  • 1980 Cuban super-heavyweight Teofilo Stevenson becomes the 1st fighter to win 3 Olympic gold medals in the same division, scores 4-1 points decision over Pyotr Zayev (Soviet Union) in Moscow

Cricket History

1981 England cricket all-rounder Ian Botham takes 5 for 11 to end Australia's chase of 151 target, all out 121 for 29 run defeat in 4th Test at Edgbaston

Baseball Record

1982 Oakland outfielder Rickey Henderson steals his 100th MLB base of the season in 6-5 win v Seattle, first to steal 100 twice in modern era

  • 1984 Jeff Blatnick becomes first American to win a gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling at the Los Angeles Olympics, Blatnick was in remission for Hodgkin’s disease

Cricket History

1985 England captain David Gower scores his 5,000th run in Test cricket during the drawn 4th Test v Australia at Old Trafford

Sports History

1986 American athlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee beats her own world heptathlon record by 13 points (7,161) in Houston

  • 1986 Curtis Cup Women's Golf, Prairie Dunes CC: Great Britain & Ireland beats the US 13-5, the visitors first win on American soil
  • 1986 Lee Elder fires a record 11-under par 61 on his way to winning the Senior PGA Merrill Lynch/Golf Digest Commemorative at Sleepy Hollow CC; mark stands for 11 years
  • 1987 Cincinnati outfielder Eric Davis is 7th to hit 30 HRs & steal 30 bases in one season as he homers in Reds 5-4 win v Giants

Federation Cup

1987 Federation Cup Tennis Final: Steffi Graf & Claudia Kohde-Kilsch beat Chris Evert & Pam Shriver in the doubles as Germany beats US 2-1 in Vancouver, Canada

  • 1987 Michael Andretti runs fastest Indy car race in history (171.49mph) in winning the Marlboro 500 at the Michigan International Speedway, Brooklyn, Michigan
  • 1990 Yankees rookie 1st baseman Kevin Maas hits his 10th MLB homer in 6-5 loss v Detroit, fastest to reach that mark, just 77 at bats
  • 1992 American Jacki Joyner-Kersee becomes first athlete to win consecutive gold medals in the gruelling heptathlon with a 199 point win over Irina Belova (Soviet Union) at the Barcelona Olympics

Baseball Hall of Fame

1992 Tom Seaver, Rollie Fingers, Hal Newhouser & Bill McGowan are inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame

  • 1992 Vitaly Scherbo of Belarus becomes the first gymnast to win 6 gold medals at one Olympics in Barcelona, also first to win 4 gold in one day's competition (pommel, vault, rings & parallel bars)
  • 1993 Maryland investors led by Baltimore attorney Peter Angelos buy the MLB Baltimore Orioles team at auction in New York for $173M, nearly $50M more than ever paid for a baseball team

Olympic Gold

1996 The star-studded United States men's basketball team, Dream Team III, beat Yugoslavia 95-69 to win the gold medal at the Atlanta Olympics

Canadian Women's Open

1998 Canadian Open Women's Golf (du Maurier Classic), Essex GC: Brandie Burton wins by 1 shot from Annika Sörenstam

  • 1998 Curtis Cup Women's Golf, Minikahda GC: US beats Great Britain & Ireland 10-8
  • 1998 Tour de France: Marco Pantani of Italy makes it a Tour & Giro d'Italia double, German Erik Zabel is points winner
  • 2003 South African cricket batsman Graeme Smith blazes 259, fast bowler Makhaya Ntini has 5 wickets in each England innings as Proteas win 2nd Test by an innings and 92 at Lord's

Women's British Open

2009 British Open Women's Golf, Royal Lytham & St Annes GC: Catriona Matthew wins her lone major title, 3 strokes ahead of runner-up Karrie Webb; first Scot to win the title

World Records Galore

2009 Michael Phelps ends the World Swimming Championships in Rome with his 5th gold medal as part of the US 4x100m medley relay team that recorded the 43rd world record of the controversial meet

Sports History

2009 US Open Senior Men's Golf, Crooked Stick GC: Fred Funk wins by 6 strokes from Joey Sindelar with a tournament record score (-20)

  • 2012 American swimmer Michael Phelps wins an unprecedented third consecutive gold medal in the 200m individual medley in 1:54.27 at the London Olympics
  • 2012 American swimmer Rebecca Soni becomes first woman to win the 200m breaststroke twice with a world record 2:19.59 at the London Olympics
  • 2014 Super Rugby Final, ANZ Stadium, Sydney: NSW Waratahs win their first SR title in a nail-biting 33-32 home effort against New Zealand's Canterbury Crusaders

Women's British Open

2015 British Open Women's Golf, Turnberry: Inbee Park of South Korea shoots final found 65 (−7) to win her 7th major title, 3 strokes ahead of compatriot Ko Jin-young