Today in Sports History
July 12th had some memorable events in sports history.
1901: Ohio farm boy Cy Young, pictured above, wins his 300th game. In his honor, the best MLB pitcher in each league annually is awarded the Cy Young award. The Reds pitchers to win the award are: Tom Seaver in 1981, Danny Jackson in 1988 and Johnny Cueto in 2014. And the Indian’s pitchers are: Gaylord Perry (1972), C.C. Sabathia (2007), Cliff Lee (2008), Corey Kluber (2014 and '17), and Shane Bieber (2020). Bob Feller would have won the award multiple times, except it wasn’t established until 1956, the year he retired. Look at that leg kick in the above photo of Feller.
1927: Yankees slugger Babe Ruth, half way to his MLB record of 60 home runs; smacks #30 off Joe Shaute in the 9th inning of New York's 7-0 win over the Cleveland Indians at Dunn Field. Above is a depiction of the Babe calling his shot during the 3rd game of the 1932 World Series against the Cubs, resulting in a game winning home run, eventually leading to a sweep.
1930: US Open Men's Golf, Interlachen CC: Defending champion Bobby Jones wins record-tying 4th US Open title by 2 strokes from Macdonald Smith; his third consecutive major title on his way to the Grand Slam later that season. Two years later he founded and designed the venerable Augusta National Golf Club, home of the Masters.
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| Left Field Terrace at Crosley Field |
1949: Baseball owners agree to erect warning paths in front of each fence so outfielders can sense the way to avoid injury. Check out this previous blogpost and photo above about the terraced warning track at Crosley Field.
1959: NBC uses cameras to show catchers' signals during Yankee-Red Sox game. Six decades later, the Houston Astros used the technology to steal signs by watching the monitor and banging on a trash can lid to signal the batter on the expected pitch. The Astros were fined $5M for their transgressions and several were fired, including now Detroit Tigers manager, AJ Hinch.
1960: Yours truly hit a game winning double in a Little League game as recorded in this blog post.
1970: British Open Men's Golf, St Andrews: Jack Nicklaus beats Doug Sanders by 1 stroke in the event's first 18-hole playoff to win the 2nd of his 3 Open Championships. Here’s a video of Jack driving the 360 yard 18th hole to win the event. Jack was then and always has been my favorite golfer of all time. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting him personally and have several items he’s autographed, including the Golden Bear hat pictured above. But I am not a fan of the golf courses he designs. They always seem to have water in front of most greens, making it extremely challenging to hit on in regulation by us mere amateurs.
1981 US Senior Open Men's Golf, Oakland Hills CC: Arnold Palmer comfortably wins 18-hole playoff against Billy Casper and Bob Stone. I had the privilege of attending this event following Arnie around the Monster as the course was described after the 1951 US Open winner Ben Hogan. We also had a chance to tour the historic club house which burned down this past winter. The above photo was taken a few weeks ago while playing the course.
1987 & 1992: Nigel Mansell wins the British Grand Prix in both years. In ’87, he was a half minute behind the leaders after the last pitstop, but passed them all including his teammate Nelson Piquet in the final laps to win by a nose. In ’92, Mansell won the pole and led from the get go to a runaway finish.
1996: Michael Jordan signs a 1 year contract with the Chicago Bulls for $30.1 million, a record at the time. He made $2.6 billion over his career. As a Piston’s fan back then, Jordon was not a favorite, but he sure was good. G.O.A.T in my view.
2015: Wimbledon Men's Tennis - Novak Đoković successfully defends his title for his 3rd Wimbledon crown; beats Roger Federer 7-6, 6-7, 6-4, 6-3. As a tennis player and fan, Djokovic’s play is amazing. He’s won 21 Grand Slam titles, including this past Sunday’s Wimbledon championship.
Definitely July 12th has many special sports highlights. Such events can really help take your mind off the crush of world affairs, thankfully. So can retirement!
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