ON THIS DATE
1887: Lottie Dod, 15, becomes the youngest woman to win the singles championship at Wimbledon. (And she still is.)
1933: The first major league All-Star Game is played at Comiskey Park, the creation of Chicago Tribune Sports Editor Arch Ward. The AL, managed by Connie Mack, defeated the NL, managed by John McGraw, 4-2 on Babe Ruth’s two-run homer.
1946: Fred Dryer, whose NFL career was followed by another success as an actor, is born in Hawthorne, Calif. (Cliff Clavin adds this little-known fact: Dryer was considered for the part of Sam Malone in “Cheers.”)
1949: Walker Cooper of Cincinnati went 6 for 7, including three home runs and drove in 10 runs in a 23-4 rout of the Cubs.
1956: Former NFL kicker Matt Bahr turns 64 today. (49ers fans wish him ... no ill will, despite the five field goals in the 1990 championship game that kept the Niners from a third straight Super Bowl.)
1957: Althea Gibson becomes the first Black to win a Wimbledon title, beating Darlene Hard 6-3, 6-2 in the women’s singles title match.
1968: Billie Jean King wins her third consecutive Wimbledon singles title.
1981: Nnamdi Asomugha, defensive back for Cal and for the Raiders and husband to actress Kerry Washington, is born in Lafayette, La.
1983: On the 50th anniversary of the All-Star Game, Atlee Hammaker of the Giants ... well, you know. (Fred Lynn’s grand slam remains the only one in All-Star Game history.)
1986: Atlanta’s Bob Horner becomes the 11th player to hit four home runs in a game. (He needed to hit five, at least; Braves lost 11-8.)
1996: Steffi Graf beats Arantxa Sanchez Vicario 6-3, 7-5 in the Wimbledon final for her 20th Grand Slam title and 100th tournament victory.
1997: Pete Sampras wins the fourth Wimbledon title and 10th Grand Slam title of his career.
1998: Se Ri Pak, 20, becomes the youngest U.S. Women’s Open champion after hitting an 18-foot birdie on the 20th extra hole to beat amateur Jenny Chuasiriporn in the longest Women’s Open in history.
2000: Zion Williamson turns 20 today. (One piece of cake, kid. One.)
2007: Tony Parker marries Eva Longoria. (She divorces him three years later — for cause, as they say.)
2008: Rafael Nadal ends Roger Federer’s bid to become the first man since the 1880s to win a sixth consecutive championship at the All England Club. Two points from victory, Federer succumbs in a 4-hour, 48-minute test of wills that’s the longest men’s final in Wimbledon history — and quite possibly the greatest.