24 August in Sports History

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 24. As a bonus, we place the jersey number worn at the time with the athlete.

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.

9 - 19 - 8 - 4 - 28 - 12 -14 - 80

August 24, 1906 - Cincinnati Red John Weimer no-hits Dodgers, 1-0 in 7 inning game

August 24, 1919 - Having pitched into the 9th inning Cleveland's Ray Caldwell was flattened by a bolt of lightning; goes on to record final out for Indians' 2-1 win over Philadelphia A's

August 24, 1922 -  The very first Phillie to hit for cycle  occurred this day when Cy Williams rached the milestone

August 24, 1940 - Is there anything in baseball that Boston's Number 9, Ted Williams could not do? The Red Sox left fielder Williams, wearing Number pitched the last 2 innings in a 12-1 loss to Detroit Tigers, Williams allows 3 hits & 1 run

August 24, 1945 -  A War hero remains in top form. Cleveland Indians ace Bob Feller, Number 19 returned home from his stint in the Navy to strike out 12

August 24, 1957 - At age 17 future England soccer striker Jimmy Greaves, Number 8 scored on his First Division debut for Chelsea against Tottenham Hotspur in a 1–1 draw at White Hart Lane

August 24, 1972 - Skating legends Gordie Howe, Number 9 and Number 4, Jean Béliveau inducted into the Ice Hockey Hall of Fame

August 24, 1975 - San Francisco Giant Ed Halicki, Number 28 no-hit the New York Mets, in a 6-0 shut out victory

August 24, 1982 - Kansas City Royals' John Wathan, Number 12 stole his season's 31st base en route to 36 total bases for the season for catcher's record

August 24, 1983 - The End of a great streak. Cincinnati Red Pete Rose, Number 14 ends consecutive games played streak at 745

August 24, 1906 - After signing a one-day contract with the San Francisco 49ers, Number 80 Jerry Rice officially retired from the NFL

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 a cropped version of Raymond Benjamin Caldwell, Yankee pitcher, full-length portrait, facing right, with right arm extended outward after throwing baseball circa 1918, taken by an unknown.