In this edition of the Sports Break, we cover the top events in sports history along with the players and athletes that were a part of them on August 16. As a bonus, we place the jersey number worn at the time with the athlete.
16 August in Sports History
Article: Sports History » Sports Jersey Memories » August » 16Daily Digits August 16
Sports history is made every day of the year. We will preserve at least a small sampling from some great athletes every day based on the uniform number they wore.
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August 16, 1927 - Yankees slugger Babe Ruth blasts a Tommy Thomas pitch in the 5th inning to hit first homerun hit out of Comiskey Park, Chicago. The New York club used it to defeat the White Sox, 8-1 spoiling thier debut in the new confines.
August 16, 1947 - I hope they brought enough balls to the ballpark! Future Baseball Hall of Fame outfielder Ralph Kiner, Number 4 hit 3 successive home runs for host Pittsburgh Pirates in a 12-7 win over St. Louis Cardinals. Combined both clubs crushed a then MLB record 10 homers in the contest.
August 16, 1964 - A "Flood" of hits. St. Louis Cardinals center fielder Curt Flood, Number 21 had 8 straight hits in a doubleheader split against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium
August 16, 1965 - American Football League's 9th franchise is officially awarded to Joe Robbie and television star Danny Thomas. They were called the Miami Dolphins and the franchise started play as a member of the AFL's Eastern Division in 1966.
August 16, 2003 - Number 7, Cristiano Ronaldo (18 years of age) made his debut for Manchester United and the Premier League in a 4–0 home victory over Bolton Wanderers
Credits
A Very Special thanks to information obtained from the following brilliant internet sites: On This Day Sports, the Sports Reference's family of website databases & Stathead.com.
Banner photo is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons of the 1953 Bowman Color baseball card of Ralph Kiner of the Pittsburgh Pirates.