TODAY IN SPORTS HISTORY
1858 — John Holden hits the first recorded home run (Brooklyn versus New York).
1927 — France wins its first Davis Cup in tennis.
1937 — Second American Football League plays first game
(L.A. Bulldogs 21, Pittsburgh Americans 0); Cleveland Rams play their first NFL game, lose 28-0. 1950 — Joe DiMaggio becomes the first player to hit three homers in a game at Griffith Stadium.
1960 — New York Yankees’ Mickey Mantle hits a 643-foot home run over the right-field roof in Detroit. 1960 — Running barefoot, Ethiopian Abebe Bikila wins the Rome Olympic marathon.
1965 — In Philadelphia’s 10,000th game since 1900, the Phillies beat the St. Louis Cardinals.
1972 — Emerson Fittipaldi is the youngest to win an auto race world championship.
1972 — The U.S. men’s Olympic basketball team has its first loss, 51-50 to U.S.S.R. (disputed).
1973 — Muhammad Ali defeats Ken Norton.
1973 — New York Jets trade pro football’s leading receiver Don Maynard to the St. Louis Cardinals. 1974 — Lou Brock ties (104) and then sets (105) baseball’s stolen-base mark.
1977 — The Toronto Blue Jays beat the New York Yankees, 19-3. 1978 — Arlyne Rhode sets the female footbow distance record (1,113 yards and 30 inches).
1978 — Fourth game of the Boston Massacre; New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox, 7-4. This ties them for first place. The Yankees outhit the Red Sox, 67-21, and outscored them, 42-9. 1980 — Bill Gullickson sets a rookie record, striking out 18. 1984 — Sean O’Keefe (11) is the youngest to cycle across the U.S. (24 days).
1988 — Steffi Graf wins the U.S. Open.
1989 — Boris Becker beats Yvan Lendl for the U.S. Open championship.
1990 — Nineteen-year old
Pete Sampras beats Andre Agassi to win the U.S. Open.
1990 — First time in New York Yankees history they are swept in a season series. The Oakland Athletics beat them 12 games to 0. 1990 — For the first time since 1966, all eight grand slam tennis champions are different.
1990 — Seattle Mariners’ Matt Young becomes the 21st American League pitcher to strike out four batters in one inning. 2006 — Seven-time world champ Michael Schumacher announces he will retire from Formula One racing at the end of the year.