Today In Sports History 4/2

Our past has shaped present by many things in history including sports, here is how sports marked our history.

Baseball

• 1908 – Mills Committee declares baseball was invented by Abner Doubleday.
• 1931 – Teenage girl strikes out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in an exhibition game in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
• 1976 – Oakland Athletics trade prospective free agents Reggie Jackson and Ken Holtzman to Baltimore Orioles for Don Baylor, Mike Torrez and Paul Mitchell.
• 1982 – In exhibition game Oakland Athletics’ pitcher Steve McCatty comes to bat using a 15-inch toy bat (under Billy Martin’s orders), protesting disallowing of designated hitter.
• 1989 – New York Yankees beat New York Mets 4-0, sweeping 1989 mayor’s trophy series in two games.
• 1994 – First exhibition game played at Jacobs Field, Pittsburgh Pirates beat Cleveland Indians, 6-4.
• 1995 – Major League Baseball owners accept baseball players’ return-to-work proposal, agree to delay start of season until April 26.
• 1996 – Detroit Tigers’ slugger Cecil Fielder steals first base in 1,097th career game.
• 1997 – Chicago White Sox agree to pay Albert Belle $10 million for the season.
• 2003 – Todd Zeile becomes the only major league player to hit a home run for ten different teams: New York Yankees, Detroit Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies, Baltimore Orioles, Los Angeles Dodgers, Florida Marlins, Texas Rangers, New York Mets, and Colorado Rockies.

Basketball

• 1969 – Milwaukee Bucks sign Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Lew Alcindor).
• 1984 – 46th NCAA Mens Basketball Championship: Georgetown beats Houston 84-75.
• 1986 – NCAA adopts 3-point basketball rule (19 feet 9 inch distance).
• 1989 – 8th NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship: Tennessee beats Auburn 76-60.
• 1990 – 52nd NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship: Nevada-Las Vegas beats Duke 103-73.
• 1995 – 14th NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship: University of Connecticut Huskies beats Tennessee 70-64.

Golf

• 1939 – 6th Golf Masters Championship: Ralph Guldahl wins, shooting a 279.
• 1967 – Susie Maxwell wins LPGA Louise Suggs Golf Invitational.
• 1978 – 7th Colgate Dinah Shore Golf Championship won by Sandra Post.
• 1989 – 18th Nabisco Dinah Shore Golf Championship won by Juli Inkster.
• 1995 – 7th Seniors Golf Tradition: Jack Nicklaus.

Hockey 

• 1977 – Montreal Canadiens set NHL record of 34 straight home games without a loss.
• 1980 – Wayne Gretzky becomes first teenager to score 50 goals in an NHL season.

Ice Skating

• 1955 – US female Figure Skating championship won by Tenley Albright.
• 1955 – US male Figure Skating championship won by Hayes A Jenkins.
• 1998 – World Mens Figure Skating Championship in Minneapolis, Minnesota; Russian Alexei Yagudin wins.

Swimming

• 2008 – Liam Tancock of Exeter, England, sets new world record 50m backstroke of 24.47 seconds, at Pond’s Forge, Sheffield, England.

Tennis

• 1955 – Pancho Gonzales retains tennis title by winning a tournament playing under table tennis rules.