25 December 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 December 25. As a bonus, we also 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 - 14 - 1 - 7 - 11 - 5 - 10 - 22 - 41

December 25, 1862 - 40,000 watch Union army men play baseball at Hilton Head, South Carolina

December 25, 1888 - First indoor baseball game played at fairgrounds in Philadelphia; 2,000 watch the Uptowners beat the Downtowners, 6-1

December 25, 1956 - Detroit's future Hockey Hall of Fame right wing Number 9, Gordie Howe racked up a Christmas hat-trick and 3 assists in Red Wings' 8-1 win over NY Rangers; most points he scores in a single game in entire 26-year NHL career

December 25, 1973 - Ballon d'Or: Ajax forward Number 14, Johan Cruyff wins his second award for best European football player ahead of Juventus goalkeeper Number 1, Dino Zoff and Bayern Munich striker Number 9, Gerd Müller

December 25, 1979 - Ballon d'Or: Hamburg's English forward Number 7, Kevin Keegan won his 2nd consecutive trophy as best football player in Europe; beats Bayern Munich forward Number 11, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Ajax sweeper Number 5, Ruud Krol

December 25, 1984 - Ballon d'Or: Juventus' French midfielder Number 10, Michel Platini is named Europe's best football player for the 2nd consecutive time; beats Bordeaux midfielder Number 14, Jean Tigana and Verona striker Number 10, Preben Elkjær

December 25, 1990 - Ballon d'Or: Inter's German sweeper Number 10, Lothar Matthäus is named best football player in Europe ahead of Juventus striker Number 9, Salvatore Schillaci and Inter defender Number 3, Andreas Brehme

December 25, 1995 - Dallas Cowboys running back Number 22, Emmitt Smith scored an NFL record 25th touchdown of the season in 37-13 win against Arizona Cardinals at Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe AZ

December 25, 2020 - New Orleans running back Number 41, Alvin Kamara equaled legendar runner Number 11, Ernie Nevers 1929 NFL record of 6 touchdowns in a match in the Saints' 52-33 win over the Minnesota Vikings at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome

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 View of a baseball game, Rochester, by Monroe, George H. --(Hibbard), 1851-1916.