On This Day...In Sports

Today is Sunday, December 14, 2014
Today in
Sports History
1901 - The first table tennis tournament was held. It was at the London Royal Aquarium.

1915 - Jack Johnson became the first black world heavyweight champion.

1952 - The Brooklyn Dodgers signed pitcher Sandy Koufax.

1982 - Marcel Dionne (Los Angeles Kings) scored his 500th goal.

1984 - Howard Cosell retired from the NFL's Monday Night Football.

1986 - Dan Marino (Miami Dolphins) set an NFL record with his seventh 400-yard game.

1988 - CBS won the exclusive rights to major league baseball's 1990-94 seasons for $1.1 billion.

1988 - The NBA's Miami Heat won their first game. They had lost their first 17 games.

1997 - Mike Gartner (Phoenix Coyotes) became only the fifth player in NHL history to score 700 career goals. The other 700 goal scorers were Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe, Phil Esposito and Marcel Dionne.

1997 - Barry Sanders (Detroit Lions) ran for more than 100 yards for his 13th consecutive game.

1998 - Jerry Rice (San Francisco 49ers) caught a pass in a game against the Detroit Lions. It was his 191st consecutive game with a reception.

On This Day...

Today is Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Today in
Sports History
1940 - The New York Rangers and the Montreal Canadiens played in the first hockey game to be televised in the U.S. The game was aired on W2WBS in New York with one camera in a fixed position. The Rangers beat the Canadiens 6-2.

1941 - The Boston Bruins set an NHL record after going 23 games unbeaten. Their record during the stretch was 15-0-8.


1951 - The first Pan American Games opened in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

1957 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that baseball was the only professional sport exempt from antitrust laws.

1964 - Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) became heavyweight-boxing champion in an upset victory over Sonny Liston.

1978 - O.J. Simpson was a guest on "Saturday Night Live."

1981 - The Boston Bruins and the Minnesota North Stars set a record for most penalties in a game. There were 84 penalties that totaled 392 minutes.

1989 - Jerry Jones, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, fired head coach Tom Landry after a 29-year career.

1995 - Major league baseball announced that regular season games would be played in Hawaii for the first time.

2002 - Jayson Williams, the former NBA star, surrendered to New Jersey police. He was charged with second-degree manslaughter in the death of Costas Christofi. Christofi was killed by a shotgun that was recklessly handled by Williams. Williams was released on $250,000 bail.

2005 - It was announced that the Walt Disney Co. had agreed to sell the Anaheim Mighty Ducks to billionaire Henry Samueli and his wife Susan. Samueli's company was the operator of Arrowhead Pond, the Mighty Ducks' home arena.

On This Day....Saturday 09-08

Today is Saturday, September 8, 2012
Today in
Sports History
1965 - Bert Campaneris became the first major league baseball player to play all nine positions in one game.

1973 - Hank Aaron hit his 709th home run.

1986 - Herschel Walker made his start in the National Football League (NFL) after leaving the New Jersey Generals of the USFL.

1998 - Mark McGwire, of the St. Louis Cardinals, hit his 62nd home run of the season. He had beaten a record that had stood for 37 years by Roger Maris. McGwire would eventually reach 70 home runs on September 27.

2002 - The NFL's Houston Texans played their first regular season game. The beat the Dallas Cowboys 19-10.

2002 - Pete Sampras won his 14th Grand Slam title when he beat Andre Agassi in the U.S. Open.

On This Day....08-11

Today is Saturday, August 11, 2012
Today in
Sports History
1929 - Babe Ruth hit his 500th career home run.

1951 - The first major league baseball game to be televised in color was broadcast. The Brooklyn Dodgers defeated the Boston Braves 8-1.


1971 - Harmon Killebrew of the Minnesota Twins got his 500th and 501st home runs of his major league baseball career..

1984 - Carl Lewis won his fourth gold medal in the 1984 Summer Olympics.

1984 - The Cincinnati Reds honored major league All-Star and Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench by retiring his uniform (#5).

On This Day...06/23

Today is Saturday, June 23, 2012

Today in
Sports History
1904 - The first American motorboat race took place on the Hudson River in New York.

1917 - Ernie Shore (Boston Red Sox) replaced Babe Ruth and retired all 26 batters he faced. Ruth had been ejected from the game.

1917 - Molla Bjurstedt won the women's U.S. Lawn Tennis Association title for the third straight year.

1922 - Johnny Weissmuller broke his own world records in the 300, 400, 440 and 500 meters in a swim meet in Honolulu, Hawaii.

1972 - U.S. President Nixon signed the Higher Education Act of 1972. Title IX of this congressional act barred sex bias in athletics and other activities at colleges receiving federal assistance.

1991 - A Mazda became the first Japanese car to win the Le Mans 24 hour race.

1996 - Michael Johnson broke the world record for the men's 200 meter race. He ran it in 19.66 seconds.

On This Day.....

Today in
Sports History
1883 - The New York Giants baseball team admitted all ladies for free to the ballpark. It was the first Ladies Day.

1938 - Jimmy Foxx (Boston Red Sox) set a major league record when he was walked six times in one game.

1951 - Ben Hogan won the U.S. Open for the second straight year.

1969 - U.S. President Nixon sent a telegram to Reggie Jackson thanking him for hitting two home runs while he was in the park on June 11.

1970 - Brian Piccolo (Chicago Bears) died of cancer.

1975 - The Milwaukee Bucks traded Kareem-Abdul Jabbar to the Los Angeles Lakers.

1981 - The "Chicago Tribune" purchased the Chicago Cubs baseball team from the P.K. Wrigley Chewing Gum Company for $20.5 million.



1985 - Willie Banks broke the world record for the triple jump with a leap of 58 feet, 11-1/2 inches in the U.S.A. championships in Indianapolis, IN.

1991 - Otis Nixon (Montreal Expos) broke a major league record with six stolen bases in one game.

1993 - Michael Jordan (Chicago Bulls) scored 55 points in an NBA Finals game against the Phoenix Suns. Jordan became the first player to score 50 points in a Finals games since Jerry West in 1969.

1996 - In Lusaka, Sambia, fans stampeded the field at the World Cup match between Zambia and Sudan. Nine people were killed and 78 were injured.

2005 - The NHL Board of Governors approved the sale of the Disney owned Mighty Ducks of Anaheim to Henry and Susan Samueli.