Take a journey back in sports history, as cllct looks at major anniversaries that occurred on this date:
July 26, 2010: Matt Garza throws the first no-hitter in Tampa Bay Rays history.
July 25, 1980: Beloved comedy Caddyshack is released in North America.
July 24, 2004: Jason Varitek and Alex Rodriguez start a benches-clearing brawl between the Red Sox and Yankees.
July 23, 1996: Gymnast Kerri Strug lands her vault on an injured ankle to secure the U.S. the gold medal over Russia in the 1996 Olympics.
July 22, 1990: American cyclist Greg LeMond wins the Tour de France despite not winning any individual stages.
July 21, 1957: Althea Gibson becomes the first African-American to win a major U.S. tennis tournament.
July 20, 1996: Hank Aaron hits home run No. 755, the last of his career.
July 19, 1996: Muhammad Ali makes a surprise appearance to light the Olympic torch in Atlanta amid his battle with Parkinson's disease.
July 18, 2018: The San Antonio Spurs trade superstar Kawhi Leonard to the Toronto Raptors. Later that season, Leonard would lead the Raptors to the franchises to its first and only title.
July 17, 1994: Brazil beats Italy to win the World Cup, the first final decided on penalties.
July 16, 1941: Joe DiMaggio records a hit in a record 56th consecutive game.
July 15, 1999: Outdoor baseball in Seattle! The Mariners hosted their first game at Safeco Field, falling to the Padres 3-2.
July 14, 1985: The Baltimore Stars defeated the Oakland Invaders 28-24 in the USFL Championship Game that came down to the final play. It was the final USFL game and 49,263 attended at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands in the pouring rain.
July 13, 1972: Baltimore Colts owner Carroll Rosenbloom trades his franchise to new Rams owner Robert Irsay. Rosenbloom had wanted to buy the Rams after the team's previous owner passed away, but arranged a trade with Irsay to avoid paying capital gains taxes.
July 12, 1901: Cy Young wins his 300th game. Young's milestone win comes with a 5-3 victory over the Philadelphia Athletics.
July 11, 1989: Today marks the 35th anniversary of the 1989 MLB All-Star Game. President Reagan teamed up with Vin Scully to announce the first inning of the game for NBC. Four of the game's eight runs came in that inning, including back-to-back home runs by Bo Jackson and Wade Boggs to lead off for the American League in the bottom of the first. Less than 60 tickets (full or stub) have been graded by PSA for this game and several autographed by the game's MVP, Bo Jackson, are currently on ebay.
July 10, 1999: Brandi Chastain hits the fifth kick in a penalty shootout at the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup Final to give the United States the victory over China. The game was played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. and it was the U.S. women's second World Cup title. Several Chastain autographed sports bras are available on ebay.
July 9, 2016: Serena Williams ties Steffi Graf's record of 22 Grand Slam Single titles. Willams defeats Angelique Kerber 7-5, 6-3 to win Wimbledon.
July 8, 2011: 19-year-old Mike Trout makes his MLB Debut against the Seattle Mariners. He bats ninth for the Angels and goes 0-3 after being called up to replace the injured Peter Bourjos in centerfield. He was sent back down after 12 starts where he hit .163 with one home run. Lelands had the jersey Trout wore in that game up for auction in 2021, but the reserve was not met.
July 7, 1948: 42-year-old veteran Negro Leagues pitcher Satchel Paige signs with the Cleveland Indians. Paige wins six games after signing mid-season. He becomes the first black player to pitch in the World Series and the Indians win the title.
July 6, 1933: The American League wins the first MLB All-Star Game 4-2. Ruth hits the first home run in the history of the "Midsummer Classic" with his blast at Comiskey Park. The event was part of the 1933 World's Fair and was the idea of Chicago Tribune sports editor Arch Ward.
July 5, 1980: Björn Borg wins his fifth straight Wimbledon. He beats John McEnroe 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-7, 8-6 in one of the greatest Wimbledon matches of all time. The match is highlighted by the 22-minute, 34-point, fourth-set tiebreak.
July 4, 1939: 61,808 fans fill Yankee Stadium for Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day. Gehrig had played his last game a few days earlier and delivered his famous "Luckiest Man on Earth" speech.
July 3, 1966: Atlanta Braves pitcher Tony Cloninger became the first NL player to hit two grand slams in one game. Cloninger drove in nine RBIs for an MLB record for pitchers.
July 2, 2019: The only privately-owned medieval chess piece from the 1831 Lewis chessmen discovery is sold by Sotheby's for £735,000. Seventy-nine chess pieces were found in a sandbank on Lewis in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The pieces were mainly carved from walrus ivory with only a few being made from whale teeth. The record sale was for a "warder" (rook) that was acquired for £5 in 1964 by an antiques dealer in Edinburgh and passed down through the same family.
July 1, 1904: The Games of the III Olympiad are held outside of Europe for the first time. The event runs from July 1 to November 23, 1904 on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. The Olympics were originally scheduled for Chicago, but moved to Missouri when officials decided to pair the event with The Louisiana Purchase Exhibition, which celebrated the 100th anniversary of the U.S. acquisition of the Louisiana Territory. Of the 650 athletes in the 1904 Olympics, 580 were American. Two medals and a program from the 1904 Games are currently available by RR Auction.
June 30, 1965: The Atlanta Falcons become the 15th franchise in the NFL after league commissioner Pete Rozelle awards Rankin Smith an expansion franchise. Smith pays a then-record $8.5 million in a move that Rozelle makes to prevent Smith from joining the rival AFL league. Smith's son, Taylor, sells the team to Arthur Blank in 2002 for $545 million.
June 29, 1905: Thanks to W.P. Kinsella's novel "Shoeless Joe," (which the movie "Field of Dreams" was based on) we all know the story of Graham's one game in the majors. Giants manager John McGraw put Graham into right field for one inning. Graham didn't get to bat and retired to become a doctor in his hometown of Chisholm, Minn. Hunt Auctions sold an autographed Graham yearbook for $9,400.
June 28, 1957: Commissioner Ford Frick added Hank Aaron, WIlly Mays and Stan Musial to the All-Star ballot to combat ballot-stuffing by the Cincinnati Redlegs fans. All but one of the Redlegs starting positon players were elected to the game.
June 27, 1999: Tony Hawk makes a 2-½ revolution aerial spin at ESPN's X-Games in San Francisco -- the first "900" in the competition's history.
June 26, 1996: Allen Iverson (1), Ray Allen (5), Kobe Bryant (13) and Steve Nash (15) highlight the 1996 NBA Draft Class.
June 26, 2003: LeBron James (1), Carmelo Anthony (3), Chris Bosh (4) and Dwyane Wade (5) highlight the 2003 NBA Draft Class.
June 25, 1997: The San Antonio Spurs select Wake Forest's Tim Duncan with the first pick in the NBA Draft. Two years later to the day, Duncan leads the Spurs past the Knicks in a 78-77 Game 5 win. It is the franchise's first NBA title and Duncan is named the Finals MVP.
June 24, 1979: Forty-five years ago, 20-year-old Rickey Henderson of the Oakland Athletics steals his first base in his MLB debut. He stole the base off Texas Rangers lefty John Henry Johnson. Only four tickets from this game (3 stubs/1 full) have been submitted to PSA. The "Man of Steal" goes on to shatter Lou Brock's career record for MLB steals and Henderson finishes his career with 1,406 steals.
June 23, 2003: The Giants' Barry Bonds becomes the first player in MLB history to steal 500 bases and hit 500 home runs. Bonds steals second base against the LA Dodgers to earn the milestone. PSA has received 75 submissions for this ticket (73 full/2 stubs).
June 22, 1981: 21-year-old John McEnroe claims the first of his three Wimbledon titles by upsetting Björn Borg. McEnroe prevented Borg from tying William Renshaw's record of six consecutive Wimbledon titles and Roy Emerson's record of 12 major titles.
June 21, 1986: After winning the Heisman Trophy and being chosen first overall by Tampa Bay in the NFL Draft, Auburn's Bo Jackson signed a three-year contract with the Royals for just more than $1 million. Jackson had vowed not to sign with the Bucs, but they drafted him anyway. The Royals had selected Jackson in the fourth round (105th overall) of the MLB Draft and he decided to sign with them instead of the Buccaneers.
June 20, 1980: Sugar Ray Leonard suffered his first defeat and lost his WBC welterweight title to Panamanian boxer Roberto Durán. The "Brawl in Montreal" took place at Olympic Stadium and Durán won by unanimous points decision.
June 19, 1989: Mets pitcher Dwight Gooden notches his 100th career win in a 5-3 win over the Expos at Shea Stadium. He becomes the third-youngest pitcher to hit 100 wins at the age of 24 years and seven months, trailing only Bob Feller and Frank Hahn.
June 18, 2000: Tiger Woods wins the 100th U.S. Open. Woods led wire-to-wire and finished 12-under par to claim his first U.S. Open title. His 15-stroke victory sets a new record for largest margin of victory in major championship history.
June 17, 1994: It was a big day on the calendar for sports fans as the following events took place: the New York Rangers Stanley Cup Parade, the World Cup started, the U.S. Open was on and Game 5 of the NBA Finals between the Knicks and the Rockets at MSG. But all the events faded into the background when the NBA Finals game was interrupted by news of the O.J. Simpson Bronco chase in Los Angeles. Al Cowlings' Bronco has become a rather valuable piece of sports memorabilia.
June 16, 1975: After telling Bucks management that he didn't want to continue playing in Milwaukee, the Bucks trade Abdul-Jabbar and Walt Wesley to the Lakers. The Bucks receive Elmore Smith and Brian Winters plus the No. 2 and No. 8 picks in the NBA Draft. The Bucks drafted Dave Meyers and Junior Bridgeman with those picks.
June 15, 2019: Hunt Auctions partners with Ruth's family to auction a collection of artifacts at Yankee Stadium. The $5.64 million auction price for the 1928-30 jersey makes it the most expensive piece of sports memorabilia ever sold, according to the auction house. The previous record was a 1920 Babe Ruth jersey that sold for $4.4 million.
June 14, 1998: Jordan hits a game-winning jumper against the Utah Jazz with seconds left on the clock to give the Bulls their second three-peat of the 90's. The shot ended up being the last MJ took as a member of the Chicago Bulls. Goldin Auctions sold an autographed stub from this game for $21,600 in 2020.
June 13, 1948: A frail cancer-battling Babe Ruth, who used his bat as a cane, made his final appearance at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees retired his No. 3 -- only the second number to be retired after Lou Gehrig's No. 4. A crowd of 49,641 was there for the event which New York Tribune's Nat Fein captured beautifully with his Pulitzer-winning photo of Ruth standing in front of the current Yankees team and the crowd in his iconic No. 3 jersey.
June 12, 1970: Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Doc Ellis no-hits the Padres, 2-0 at San Diego Stadium. In 1984, Ellis admitted that he had been under the influence of LSD when he walked eight and hit one while throwing his no-no. PSA has not graded one ticket from this game.
June 11, 1990: Nolan Ryan pitches the sixth no-hitter of his career as the Rangers down the Athletics. Ryan finishes off the ninth inning by retiring Rickey Henderson, Ken Phelps and Willie Randolph.
June 10, 1996: The Colorado Avalanche won a thrilling 3 OT 1-0 game to sweep the Florida Panthers and win the Stanley Cup. Patrick Roy stopped all 63 shots in the game and finished with a series save percentage of .974, stopping 147 of 151 shots.
June 9, 1945: Shortly after beating the Phillies 8-7 at Ebbets Field, Dodger manager Leo Durocher is arrested for punching a fan. Charges were dropped after fan says the Dodgers paid him $6,750 for his injuries.
June 8, 2002: Serena Williams beats her older sister Venus 7-5, 6-3 to claim her first French Open title. The title would be the first of four straight majors wins, which became known as the 'Serena Slam' (all four majors in a row but not during one season) - across 2002 and 2003.
June 7, 1989: Wayne Gretzky wins his 9th Hart Trophy in the past ten years. The award came in his first year with the Los Angeles Kings after Gretzky tallied 54 goals and 114 assists for 168 points. His string of eight straight MVP awards was snapped the previous season by Pittsburgh's Mario Lemieux.
June 6, 1969: A few months after being named MVP of Super Bowl III, Joe Namath held a press conference to announce he was retiring from the NFL. Commissioner Pete Rozelle had demanded Namath sell his stake in Bachelors III, a NYC night club that the NFL believed was used by mobsters that were running gambling rackets. Namath cried during the press conference and said he was retiring because he had done nothing wrong. Namath eventually sold his stake and was back with the Jets by July.
June 5, 1974: Oakland teammates Reggie Jackson and Bill North fought in the visiting clubhouse at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Reggie took offense to something North said and the two game to blows twice before the game before being broken up by Vida Blue and Ray Fosse.
June 4, 1974: The Cleveland Indians drew their second-largest crowd of the season (25,134) at Municipal Stadium for the ten-cent beer night. Streakers, a father & son mooning and even an appearance by Morganna, "The Kissing Bandit", were some of the night's highlights. But it ended in a riot after a fan tried to swipe Rangers outfielder Jeff Burrough's hat and the Rangers ended up escaping the field and claiming the forfeit win.
June 3, 1980: 18-year-old Darryl Strawberry is selected by the New York Mets with the first pick in the MLB Draft. His signing bonus was for $152,500. In 2002, Lelands sold a lot of his game-worn gear (bat, helmet, glove, cleats and hat) for $1,355.84. Only two tickets from his MLB debut on May 6, 1983 have been graded by PSA.
June 2, 1991: Magic Johnson had a triple-double (19 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds) as the Lakers stunned the Bulls 93-91 in Game 1 of the 1991 NBA FInals in Chicago, spoiling Michael Jordan's first career Finals game. MJ's Bulls would win the next four games to capture Chicago's first NBA championship.
June 1, 1979: The Sonics beat the Washington Bullets 97-93 in the NBA Finals to beat the defending champ in five games. Gus Williams led the way with 23 points in Game 5, while the 1979 Finals MVP Dennis Johnson chipped in 21.
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