Events in Sports History on August 23

  • 1883 Philadelphia Quakers make 27 errors against Providence Grays in 28-0 shutout defeat at Messer Street Grounds; wild pitches, walks, passed balls count as errors in MLB prior to 1888
  • 1897 US National Championship Men's Tennis, Newport R.I.: Defending champion Robert Wrenn beats Wilberforce Eaves 4-6, 8-6, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 for his 4th US singles title
  • 1906 Chicago White Sox win 19th straight, beating Washington Senators, 4-1 at American League Park
  • 1907 Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Howie Camnitz no-hits NY Giants, 1-0 in 5 inning game at the Polo Grounds, NYC
  • 1920 American swimmer Warren Kealoha wins first of 2 consecutive Olympic gold medals in the 100m backstroke, beating teammate Ray Kegeris at the Antwerp Games

Mile World Record

1923 Paavo Nurmi of Finland runs world record for 1 mile of 4:10.4 in Stockholm; record stands until 1931

US Open Women's Tennis

1926 US National Championship Women's Tennis, Forest Hills, NY: Molla Bjurstedt Mallory beats Elizabeth Ryan 4-6, 6-4, 9-7 for her 8th and final US singles title

US Open Women's Tennis

1930 US National Championship Women's Tennis, Forest Hills, NY: England's Betty Nuthall Shoemaker beats Anna McCune Harper 6-1, 6-4 for her lone major title

  • 1933 First televised boxing match — 6-round exhibition at Broadcasting House in London between middleweights Archie Sexton and Lauri Raiteri; aired by BBC-TV

Baseball Record

1936 17-year-old Cleveland Indians future Baseball HOF pitcher Bob Feller's first MLB game as a starter; strikes out 15 St Louis Browns in 4-1 win at League Park, Cleveland

Johnson Pitches to Ruth

1942 Walter Johnson pitches to Babe Ruth in pregame attraction that draws 69,000 for NYY-Washington MLB doubleheader at Yankee Stadium; raises $80,000 for Army-Navy relief

  • 1946 13th NFL Chicago All-Star Game: All-Stars 16, Los Angeles 0 (97,380)
  • 1947 1st Baseball Little League World Series, Williamsport, Pennsylvania: Maynard Midgets beat Lock Haven All Stars, 16-7
  • 1953 Cyclist Arie Van Vliet becomes world champion sprinter
  • 1953 Former Boston Braves pitcher Phil Paine becomes first major leaguer to play in Japan; on military service with U.S. Air Force plays first of 9 games for Nishitetsu Lions

F1 World Champion

1953 Italian Ferrari driver Alberto Ascari clinches his second Formula 1 World Drivers Championship by winning Swiss Grand Prix at Bremgarten

  • 1953 Phil Grate sets record for throwing a baseball (443'3")
  • 1964 St Louis Cardinals are 11 games back in NL; go on win Baseball World Series, 4-3 v New York Yankees
  • 1968 Yanks & Tigers play 3-3 tie in 19 due to 1 AM curfew
  • 1969 Audrey McElmory (US) wins World Cycling Championships, Brno Czechoslovakia
  • 1969 France's Une De Mai wins International Trot at Roosevelt Raceway Czechoslovakia (1st American to win cycling race title since 1912)

Baseball Record

1970 Roberto Clemente compiles his record 2nd straight 5-hit game

Baseball Record

1972 Chicago White Sox Dick Allen is 4th player to homer into Comiskey Park's center field bleachers; previously slugged by only Jimmie Foxx, Hank Greenberg, & Alex Johnson

  • 1974 Zaheer Abbas scores 240 Pakistan v England at The Cricket Oval
  • 1980 Charles O. Finley sells Oakland A's MLB franchise for $12.7m to Walter Haas Jr. (owner and CEO of Levi Strauss)

Sports History

1982 Seattle Mariner pitcher Gaylord Perry ejected for throwing a spitter

  • 1985 Paul Hornung awarded $1,160,000 by a Louisville court against NCAA who barred him as a college football analyst for betting on games

Sports History

1988 Mike Tyson & Mitch Green brawl at 4 A.M. in Harlem, NYC

  • 1989 LA Dodgers beat Montreal Expos, 1-0, in 22 innings (Rick Dempsey HR)
  • 1991 3rd Athletics World Championships open at Tokyo, Japan
  • 1992 Dennis Eckersley, who previously set record for most consecutive saves (40), is 1st pitcher to record 40 saves in 4 different seasons

Baseball Record

1993 Fred McGriff & David Justice are 6th to hit back-to-back HRs twice in same game

  • 2003 9th Athletics World Championships open at Saint-Denis, France
  • 2004 An American sweep in the 400m medals at the Athens Olympics; Jeremy Wariner gold in 44.00 ahead of Otis Harris and Derrick Brew
  • 2004 Outstanding British athlete Kelly Holmes wins 1st leg of her 800/1,500m double at the Athens Olympics taking the gold medal in 1:56.38
  • 2004 Winning pitcher Lisa Fernadez (4-0) leads the US to the softball gold medal at the Athens Olympics, beating Australia 5-1
  • 2008 Australian diver Matthew Mitcham wins the men's 10m platform gold medal with final dive at the Beijing Olympics; prevents Chinese from winning every diving event; achieves highest score for an individual dive in Olympic history (112.10)

Olympic Gold

2008 Ethiopian distance runner Kenenisa Bekele wraps up the 5,000/10,000m double at the Beijing Olympics when he takes gold in the 5k in an Olympic record 12:57.82

  • 2008 Midfielder Ángel Di María scores a 58th minute winner as Argentina beats Nigeria 1-0 to take the men's football gold medal at the Beijing Olympics; 89,102 at the National Stadium

Olympic Gold

2008 The star-studded American women's basketball team led by the likes of Lisa Leslie, Sue Bird & Diana Taurasi win the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics with a convincing 92-65 win over Australia

  • 2009 Solheim Cup Women's Golf, Rich Harvest Farms: US wins 3rd consecutive Cup 16-12; win 8 of 12 singles to dominate final day
  • 2009 The Tradition Senior Men's Golf, Crosswater Club: Mike Reid wins his second Champions Tour major with birdie on first playoff hole against John Cook

Canadian Women's Open

2015 Canadian Open Women's Golf, Vancouver GC: Lydia Ko of New Zealand wins in a playoff with Stacy Lewis for her third success in the event

  • 2015 English Indycar driver Justin Wilson suffers a head injury during a race crash at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania
  • 2020 British Open Women's Golf, Royal Troon GC: Sophia Popov of Germany claims her first Tour title by 2 strokes from Thailand's Jasmine Suwannapura; at #304, lowest ranked player to win a major
  • 2020 Indianapolis 500: 2017 champion Takuma Sato of Japan wins his 2nd title under yellow caution flag after a crash with 3 laps remaining

UEFA Champions League Final

2020 UEFA Champions League Final, Lisbon: Kingsley Coman heads German giants Bayern Munich to the club's 6th crown in a 1-0 win over Paris St-Germain