TODAY IN SPORTS HISTORY
1877 The International Association (minor baseball league) organizes. 1903 Nick Young remains as National League baseball president as AG Spalding ends challenge.
1923 Christy Mathewson becomes president of the Boston Braves.
1927 Golfers in South Carolina are arrested for violating the Sabbath.
1929 The Boston Red Sox announce they will play Sunday games at Braves Field.
1943 Phil Wrigley and Branch Rickey charter the All-American Girls Softball League.
1953 August A. Busch buys the St. Louis Cardinals for $3.75 million US.
1953 The U.S. Court of Appeals rules that Organized Baseball is a sport and not a business, affirming the 25-year-old Supreme Court ruling.
1958 Jockey Eddie Arcaro rides his 4,000th winner.
1958 The Los Angeles Coliseum Committee approves a two-year pact allowing the Los Angeles Dodgers to use the facility.
1963 Willie Mays (San Francisco Giants) signs a record $100,000 US-per-year contract. 1971 Boston Bruins’ Phil Esposito is NHL’s quickest to score 50 goals in a season.
1974 Gordie Howe comes out of retirement for $1 million US from the WHA’s Houston Aeros. 1976 Muhammad Ali knocks out Jan Pierre Coopman in five rounds for the heavyweight boxing title. 1982 The New York Islanders win a record 15th straight NHL game.
1985 After defending his WBC flyweight championship,
Sot Chitalada’s cheque for $104,000 US is stolen by a ringside pickpocket.
1986 Los Angeles Dodgers’ Orel Hershiser is the first to win a $1-million US salary by arbitration.
1988 Brian Boitano wins an Olympic gold medal in figure skating in Calgary.
1992 The English FA Premier League is officially formed.
1994 Johann Olav Koss skates a world-record
10 kilometres in 13:30.55.
1997 San Francisco Giants’ Barry Bonds signs a record $22.9-million, two-year contract. 1998 Tara Lipinski wins Olympic figure skating gold.