The first world heavyweight boxing championship using gloves and the Queensberry rules took place in New Orleans.
It was held on September 7, 1892, between James J. Corbett and John L. Sullivan.
Corbett knocked out Sullivan in the 21st round.
Martina Navratilova was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, on October 18, 1956, as Martina Subertova. When her mother later divorced and remarried, Martina took the name of her stepfather, Miroslav Navratil, adding the traditional feminine ending ova. She moved to the United States in September 1975 during the U.S. Open.
The first woman to cross the English Channel, Gertrude Ederle, clocked in at 14 hours, 39 minutes on August 5, 1926. In doing so, she broke the existing men’s record.
Muhammad Ali defended the heavyweight boxing title 19 times-5 times in 1966 alone, 4 in 1976. But Ali doesn’t hold a candle to Joe Louis, who defended his title 25 times, with 7 fights in 1941.
The first group, inducted in the 1936 Baseball Hall of Fame, consisted of Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Babe Ruth, and Honus Wagner. Tyrus Raymond Cobb (1886-1961), “the Georgia Peach,” had played for the Detroit Tigers. Walter Perry Johnson (1887-1946) had pitched for the Washington Senators. Christopher Mathewson (1880-1925) had been a pitcher for…
The New York Giants moved to San Francisco for the start of the 1958 season. The final game of the New York Giants at New York’s Polo Grounds was played against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The term, the Baltimore chop came into vogue in 1890. It refers to a batted ball that bounces so high that it cannot be fielded successfully before the batter reaches first base. It is said to have been named for two Baltimore players, John McGraw and Willie (“Wee Willie”) Keeler, who often reached base this…