ON THIS DATE

1915: George “Zip” Zabel of the Chicago Cubs, called into the game against the Brooklyn Dodgers with two outs in the first inning, goes 18 1/3 innings for the win. (Still — and likely forever — the longest relief outing in MLB history.)

1943: Player-manager Joe Cronin of the Boston Red Sox hit a three-run pinch homer in both games of a doubleheader against the Philadelphia A’s. (He had a hunch.)

1954: Rocky Marciano scores a 15-round unanimous decision over Ezzard Charles in New York to retain the world heavyweight title. (The Original Rock, and even Dwayne Johnson would say so.)

1960: Ted Williams becomes the fourth player to hit 500 home runs, joining Babe Ruth, Mel Ott and Jimmie Foxx.

1962: Jack Nicklaus beats Arnold Palmer by three strokes in a playoff to win the U.S. Open.

1962: Brazil wins its second straight World Cup, beating Czechoslovakia 3-1 in Santiago, Chile.

1973: Johnny Miller shoots a final-round 63 — the lowest score ever carded in a major — to win the U.S. Open by one stroke over John Schlee at Oakmont.

1976: The 18-team NBA absorbs four of the six remaining ABA teams: the New York Nets, Indiana Pacers, San Antonio Spurs and Denver Nuggets. The Kentucky Colonels and the Spirit of St. Louis (great nicknames) folded and their players went into a dispersal draft.

1978: Ron Guidry of the New York Yankees strikes out 18 California Angels to set an American League record for left-handers.

1979: Hale Irwin wins the U.S. Open by two strokes over Gary Player and Jerry Pate.

1980: Happy 40th birthday to Venus Williams, born this day in Lynwood.

1987: Dick Howser, manager of the 1985 World Series champion Kansas City Royals, dies of brain cancer at 51

1989: John Matuszak, aka “The Tooz,” dies at 38 of an accidental overdose of painkillers.

1990: Harry Gant, 50, becomes the oldest driver to win a NASCAR race, capturing the Miller 500 at Pocono International Raceway.

1991: Payne Stewart escapes with a two-stroke victory over Scott Simpson in the highest-scoring U.S. Open playoff in 64 years.

1993: Baseball owners voted 26-2 in favor of expanding the playoffs for the first time in 25 years, doubling the teams that qualify to eight starting in 1994.

2007: Golf everyman Angel Cabrera, looking like an overstuffed laundry bag and smoking Marlboros, wins the U.S. Open by a stroke over Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk.

2007: Kate Ziegler shatters swimming’s oldest world record, completing the 1,500 free in 15:42.54 — more than nine seconds faster than the mark set in 1988 by Stanford’s Janet Evans.

2008: The Boston Celtics beat the Los Angeles Lakers to win their 17th NBA title.

2010: The Lakers beat Boston for their 16th NBA title. (Next with six: The Warriors and the Chicago Bulls.)

2011: Rory McIlroy becomes the first player in the 111-year history of the U.S. Open to reach 13-under par.

2015: Heisman Trophy winner John David Crow, whose disappointing NFL career ended with the 49ers in 1968, dies at 79.