TODAY IN SPORTS HISTORY
1914 New York Giants and Chicago White Sox play an exhibition baseball game in Egypt. 1959 Zack Wheat unanimously elected to baseball Hall of Fame. 1962 National League releases its first 162-game schedule. 1965 National League adopts emergency team replacement plan to restock any club struck by disaster. 1968 Vince Lombardi resigns as coach of the Green Bay Packers. 1970 Former baseball commissioner Ford Frick, Earle Combs, and Jesse Haines elected by Special Veterans Committee to Baseball Hall of Fame. 1973 Monte Irvin elected to baseball Hall of Fame. 1976 East Lansing police arrest Los Angeles Dodgers’ reliever Mike Marshall for taking batting practice at Michigan State University after he is warned not to. 1977 Hillsdale High School defeats Person High School 2-0 in basketball. 1984 Daniel Stern becomes NBA commissioner. 1987 38,873 NBA crowd watch Chicago Bulls at Detroit Pistons. 1992 Barry Bonds signs baseball’s highest single year contract (US$4.7 million). 1992 Denis Potvin’s No. 5 becomes the first number retired by the New York Islanders. 1994 In Portland, Ore., Tonya Harding’s ex-husband Jeff Gillooly pleads guilty to his role in attacking figure skater Nancy Kerrigan. He accepts a plea bargain, admitting to racketeering charges in exchange for testimony against Harding. 2004 The New England Patriots win NFL Super Bowl XXXVIII, as Adam Vinatieri kicks the game-winning field goal with four seconds left. 2009 Super Bowl XLII is played in Tampa, Fla. The Pittsburgh Steelers win their record sixth Super Bowl by defeating the Arizona Cardinals 27-23. Santonio Holmes is named the game’s most valuable player. 2012 At least 79 people are killed and more than 1,000 injured after a football match in Port Said, Egypt.