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 December 2. As a bonus, we place the jersey number worn at the time with the athlete as well.
2 December in Sports History
Article: Sports History » Sports Jersey Memories » December » 2
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Daily Digits December 2
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.
22 - 32 - 6 - 14 - 35 - 16 - 6 - 15 - 24 - 7 - 34 - 43 - 57 - 13 - 11 - 10 - 9 - 19 - 15
December 2, 1887 - International Baseball League disbands; teams in Syracuse, Toronto, Hamilton, and Buffalo form the International Association; those in Newark, Jersey City, Wilkes-Barre, and Scranton become the Central League
December 2, 1907 - Association of Football Players' and Trainers' Union (English Professional Football Players' Association) is formed by Charlie Roberts and Billy Meredith in Manchester, England
December 2, 1909 - National Hockey Association (NHA) is formed in Montreal; original members include Montreal Wanderers and Montreal Canadiens; becomes NHL after some NHA teams leave due to ownership disagreements, and create their own league
December 2, 1928 - St. Cardinals future Baseball HOF first baseman Jim Bottomley was voted as the NL MVP
December 2, 1944 - 10th Heisman Trophy Award was given to Ohio State Quarterback, Number 22, Les Horvath.
December 2, 1947 - 13th Heisman Trophy Award was handed to Notre Dame quarterback, Number 32, Johnny Lujack.
December 2, 1948 - After one of the best seasons in baseball history, St Louis Cardinals utility Number 6, Stan Musial was named NL MVP; leads NL in batting average (.365), runs (135), RBI (131), hits (230), doubles (46), triples (18) & slugging (.702), with 39 HRs
December 2, 1951 - Future Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Don Hutson has his Number 14 jersey retired by the Green Bay Packers; first number retired in franchise history
December 2, 1952 - 18th Heisman Trophy Award was won by Oklahoma half back Number 35, Billy Vessels.
December 2, 1957 - NFL Draft: Rice quarterback King Hill #1 pick by Chicago Cardinals, where he wore Number 16
December 2, 1958 - 1959 NFL Draft: Randy Duncan QB University of Iowa #1 pick by Green Bay Packers. He wore Number 15 as a member of the Dallas Texans in 1961.
December 2, 1958 - 24th Heisman Trophy Award was won by Army half back Number 24, Pete Dawkins
December 2, 1963 - 1964 NFL Draft: Dave Parks, Number 81 at Texas Tech first pick by San Francisco 49ers
December 2, 1969 - Two years after doubling its size from six to 12, the NHL announces 2 new teams would be joining the League the following year; Buffalo Sabres and Vancouver Canucks
December 2, 1978 - The Sporting News announced that Baltimore Orioles shortstop Number 7, Mark Belanger as the winner of his 8th (and final) MLB Gold Glove Award
December 2, 1981 - Pitcher Fernando Valenzuela, Number 34 became the 3rd consecutive LA Dodgers player to be named National League Rookie of the Year; (Number 43) Rick Sutcliffe 1979, Steve Howe 1980 (Number 57)
December 2, 1984 - Miami Dolphins quarterback Number 13, Dan Marino broke the NFL single-season touchdown pass record when he throws his 37th in the Dolphins' 45-34 loss to the Raiders; finishes season with 48 TD passes
December 2, 1987 - "334" club forms as 334 brave Devil fans journey through 20" of snow to attend New Jersey Devils 7-5 NHL victory over Calgary at Meadowlands
December 2, 1989 - 55th Heisman Trophy Award was won by Houston (QB) Number 11, Andre Ware
December 2, 2008 - Manchester United's Portuguese forward Number 9, Cristiano Ronaldo won his first award as best football player in the world; Barcelona forward Number 10, Lionel Messi 2nd, Liverpool striker Number 9, Fernando Torres 3rd
December 2, 2016 - For 6th time in 7 years, Cincinnati Reds 1st baseman Number 19, Joey Votto wins Tip O'Neill Award as best Canadian MLB player; hit .326 with NL-leading .434 OBP, 29 HRs & 97 RBIs in an outstanding all-around season for last-place club
December 2, 2019 - Barcelona forward Number 10 , Lionel Messi wins his record 6th award from Liverpool's Dutch defender Virgil van Dijk; American midfielder Number 15, Megan Rapinoe is Women's World Player of the Year
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 1903 Stands along the third base line, Huntington Avenue Grounds, taken by an unknown.
Topics Related to 2 December in Sports History
Orville Mulligan: Sports Writer
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Hut! Hut! Hike! Book
Historian Timothy P. Brown has released another excellent book to help fill our football minds with knowledge. His latest is called Hut! Hut! Hike!: A History of Football Terminology.[/br]more information
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