Events in Sports History on August 3

  • 1852 America's first intercollegiate sporting event takes place as the Harvard heavyweight rowing crew beats Yale by 2 lengths over 2 miles on Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire
  • 1881 US National Lawn Tennis Association removes "National" from its name
  • 1906 Washington Nationals' Tom Hughes becomes first MLB pitcher to win a 1-0 extra innings game off his own home run in 10th v St. Louis Browns

Sports History

1909 MLB umpire Tim Hurst instigates a riot by spitting in the face of A's 2nd baseman Eddie Collins who had questioned a call; 2 weeks later Hurst banned for life

  • 1914 NY Yankees catcher Les Nunamaker throws out 3 Tigers' runners to 2nd base during the 1st innings, only time in 20th Century
  • 1921 MLB Commissioner Kenesaw Landis hands out life bans to 8 Chicago White Sox players accused in Black Sox scandal despite their acquittal by a Chicago jury

Sports History

1923 Baseball games cancelled following the death of US President Warren G. Harding

Sports History

1924 Dutch track cyclist Piet Moeskops wins his 4th consecutive UCI world sprint championship in Paris

  • 1928 Ray Barbuti wins 400m in 47.8 at the Amsterdam Olympics, the only individual track event won by an American at the Games

Sports History

1930 For the 2nd time in the year, Phillies outfielder Chuck Klein hits safely in 26 straight games, run halted in 2nd game of doubleheader v Boston Braves

  • 1932 Official automatic timing & photo-finish camera for track events is used for the 1st time at Los Angeles Olympics, instrumental in changing 110m hurdles final, review gives Donald Finley bronze ahead of American Jack Keller
  • 1933 Philadelphia A's beat NY Yankees, 7-0, first time in 308 games 'Bronx Bombers' are shut out

Jesse Owens Wins Gold

1936 American sprinter Jesse Owens wins the 100m (10.3 seconds) in front of Adolf Hitler in a famous race at the Berlin Olympics, first of 4 gold medals at the Games

  • 1936 Karl Hein (56.49 Olympic record) and Erwin Blask make it a German 1-2 in the hammer throw at the Berlin Olympics

Sports History

1941 Joe DiMaggio goes 0-4 in Yankees 6-2 loss v St. Louis Browns, ending his on-base streak of 74 games, 2nd in MLB history

  • 1948 American divers Vicki Draves, Zoe Ann Olsen and Patsy Elsener go 1-2-3 in a US clean sweep of the medals in the women's 3m springboard at the London Olympics
  • 1948 An American 1-2 in the men's 200m at the London Olympics with Mel Patton (21.1) beating teammate Barney Ewell
  • 1948 An American clean sweep of the medals in the men's 3m springboard diving at the London Olympics with Bruce Harlan winning gold, Miller Anderson silver and Sammy Lee bronze
  • 1948 An American sweep of the medals in the men's shot put at the London Olympics with Wilbur Thompson taking gold ahead of teammates Jim Delaney & Jim Fuchs

Sports History

1948 Negro League veteran pitcher Satchel Paige, age 42, debuts in Cleveland after controversial signing, goes 7 innings in 5-3 win v Washington

  • 1948 The US 4 x 200m freestyle relay team of Wally Ris, Jimmy McLane, Wally Wolf and Bill Smith swim a world record 8:46.0 to win gold at the London Olympics
  • 1949 Basketball Association of America (BAA) & National Basketball League (NBL) merge to form National Basketball Association (NBA), Maurice Podoloff elected head of new league

F1 World Champion

1952 Italian Ferrari driver Alberto Ascari clinches Formula 1 World Drivers Championship by winning German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring

  • 1952 XV Summer Olympic Games close in Helsinki, Finland
  • 1955 Automobile Association of America ends support of auto racing, Le Mans disaster and Bill Vukovich death at Indianapolis contributing factors
  • 1955 Belgian middle distance runner Roger Moens breaks Rudolph Harbig's long standing 800m world record (1:45.7) in Oslo, Norway
  • 1956 American sprinter Willie Williams sets 100m world record at 10.1 in Berlin, Germany
  • 1959 27th All Star Baseball Game: AL wins 5-3 at Memorial Coliseum, LA
  • 1959 AL beats NL 5-3 in Game 2 of All Star Baseball doubleheader (to boost player pension fund) at LA Memorial Coliseum
  • 1960 For the only time in MLB history teams exchange managers as Detroit trades Jimmy Dykes (44-52) for Cleveland's Joe Gordon (49-46)
  • 1960 Pittsburgh Steelers (NFL) beat Toronto Argonauts (CFL) 43-16 in exhibition game at CNE Stadium in Toronto
  • 1961 Pittsburgh Pirates rout the St. Louis Cardinals, 19-0, the largest lopsided shutout in NL history
  • 1962 NY Met Frank Thomas hits his 6th HR in 3 games
  • 1969 Cincinnati Reds with 25 hits & 10 runs in 5th edge Philadelphia Phillies 19-17 at Connie Mack Stadium
  • 1970 The second ever NFL work stoppage ends with NFL and Players' Association agreeing to a 4-year, $19.1 million deal

PGA Championship

1979 Sam Snead, at 67 years, 2 months and 7 days sets the record for the oldest player to make the cut in a major - PGA Championship at Oakland Hills CC

  • 1980 Al Kaline, Duke Snider, Chuck Klein and Tom Yawkey are inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame
  • 1980 XXII Summer Olympic Games close in Moscow, Russia
  • 1982 Pitching coach Clyde King becomes NY Yankees 3rd manager of the season replacing Gene Michaels after Yanks swept at home by Chicago White Sox
  • 1984 17-year-old Australian swimmer Jon Sieben stages a withering finish to upset hot favourite Michael Gross of West Germany in 200m butterfly at Los Angeles Olympics, world record (1:57.04)
  • 1984 Mary Lou Retton scores 10 for final vault to win the individual all-round competition in Los Angeles and become first American woman to win an Olympic gymnastics medal
  • 1984 Mexicans Ernesto Canto and Raúl González take the gold and silver medals in the 20k walk at the Los Angeles Olympics
  • 1986 First NFL 'American Bowl' exhibition game at London's Wembley Stadium, Chicago Bears beat Dallas Cowboys 17-6

Baseball Record

1987 Detroit Tigers ace Jack Morris ties AL record with 5 wild pitches in a 4-2, 10 innings loss v Kansas City Royals

  • 1987 Twins pitcher Joe Niekro is caught with a file on the mound in 11-3 win v Angels, ejected and suspended for 10 games
  • 1989 Cincinnati Reds set MLB record for most hits in 1st inning of a game with 16 for 14 runs in an 18-1 rout of Houston Astros

Baseball Record

1989 Future Baseball Hall of Fame left fielder Rickey Henderson sets AL mark of 50 stolen bases in 9 of his first 11 seasons in MLB

  • 1989 Jorge Velásquez wins aboard Maddie Bumpo in the 3rd at Arlington International Racecourse to become only the 5th jockey in the world to ride 6,000 career winners
  • 1990 NY Yankees rookie 1st baseman Kevin Maas sets a MLB record for hitting 10 home runs in the fewest at bats (72)

Tour de France

1996 5-time Tour de France winner Miguel Induráin of Spain wins the 52.2k road time trial in 1:04:05, 12 seconds ahead of countryman Abraham Olano at the Atlanta Olympics

Olympic Gold

1996 American Andre Agassi wins the men's singles Tennis gold medal at the Atlanta Olympics beating Spaniard Sergi Bruguera 6-2, 6-3, 6-1

  • 1997 Canadian Open Women's Golf (du Maurier Classic), Glen Abbey GC: Colleen Walker wins by 2 shots from Liselotte Neumann of Sweden
  • 1997 Manchester United beats Chelsea 4-2 on penalties to win the Charity Shield, after a bad-tempered 1-all draw at Wembley
  • 1998 The Oval stages first competitive cricket match played under floodlights in London when home team Surrey loses to Sussex by 8 wickets in the day/night 40-over fixture

Sports History

1999 Arsenal FC completes a huge signing coup snapping up ace French striker Thierry Henry for a bargain £10 million from Italian club Juventus.

  • 1999 Thierry Henry transfers from Juventus to Arsenal for an estimated fee of £11 million
  • 2000 England cricket wicket-keeper Alec Stewart becomes only the 4th batsman to score a century (105) in his 100th Test, during the 3rd Test against the West Indies at Old Trafford
  • 2001 8th Athletics World Championships open at Edmonton, Canada
  • 2001 Olympic champion Gezahegne Abera of Ethiopia becomes first athlete to achieve Olympics-World Championships marathon double; runs 2:12:42 to beat Kenya's Simon Biwott by just 0.1s in Edmonton World Championships

Women's British Open

2003 British Open Women's Golf, Royal Lytham & St Annes GC: Annika Sörenstam of Sweden wins by 1 stroke from Se Ri Pak; completes career grand slam for Sörenstam

Baseball Record

2004 St. Louis 1st baseman Albert Pujols becomes first player in MLB history to hit at least 30 HRs in each of his first 4 seasons as Cardinals beat Montreal, 10-6

Baseball Record

2006 Barry Bonds' 715th MLB home run ball (moved him past Babe Ruth for 2nd all-time) fetches $220,100 at auction

  • 2006 Brazilian Champ Car driver Cristiano da Matta crashes into a deer during testing at Road America, Wisconsin; seriously injured but returns to racing in 2008

Women's British Open

2008 British Open Women's Golf, Sunningdale GC: Jiyai Shin of South Korea shoots final round 66 (−6) to win her first major championship, 3 strokes ahead of runner-up Yani Tseng

US Senior Golf Open

2008 US Senior Open Men's Golf, Broadmoor GC: Eduardo Romero of Argentina wins by 4 strokes ahead of Fred Funk for his second Champions Tour major title

  • 2012 American Missy Franklin swims a world record 2:04.06 to win the 200m backstroke gold medal at the London Olympics

Olympic Gold

2012 American super-swimmer Michael Phelps wins the 100m butterfly in London to take his all-time Olympic gold medal tally to a record 17

  • 2013 Super Rugby Final, Waikato Stadium, Hamilton: Chiefs successfully defend title with a 27-22 over ACT Brumbies
  • 2016 International Olympic Committee approves baseball/softball, karate, sport climbing, surfing and skateboarding to be included in the sports program for 2020 Games only; total number of sports, 33

World Record

2017 Brazilian soccer forward Neymar transfers from FC Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain for a world-record transfer fee of €222M on a 5-year deal

Olympic Gold

2021 Jamaican athlete Elaine Thompson-Herah wins 200m gold in Tokyo to become the first female to claim the 100/200m double at consecutive Olympic Games

  • 2021 Karsten Warholm of Norway runs first ever sub-46 second 400m hurdles 45.94 WR to claim gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics
  • 2021 New Zealand canoeist Lisa Carrington wins her third straight Olympic K-1 200m title at the Tokyo Games; also wins K-2 500m for her 4th career Olympic gold medal

First WNBA Player to Reach 10,000 Points

2023 Phoenix Mercury guard Diana Taurasi becomes first WNBA player to reach 10,000 points as she drops 42 points in a 91-71 win over the Atlanta Dream at Footprint Center, Phoenix, Arizona