30 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 30. 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.

66 - 11 - 5 - 9 - 10 - 99 - 8 - 7 - 34 - 15

December 30, 1907 - Abraham Mills and a committee he chaired declared baseball was invented in 1839 by future American Civil War general Abner Doubleday in Cooperstown, New York; widely disproven, now known as 'the Doubleday myth'

December 30, 1962 - National Football League Championship, Yankee Stadium, NYC: Green Bay Packers beat NY Giants, 16-7. The game's MVP was Green Bay, LB, Number 66, Ray Nitschke. 

December 30, 1971 - Long Island NHL franchise purchased  to later become the New York Islanders.

December 30, 1975 - Ballon d'Or: FC Dynamo Kyiv forward Number 11, Oleg Blokhin claimed the award for best European football player ahead of former winners, Bayern Munich defender Number 5, Franz Beckenbauer and Ajax forward Number 9, Johan Cruyff

December 30, 1980 - Ballon d'Or: Bayern Munich forward Number 11, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge was selected as the best European football player; beats German international teammate Number 5, Bernd Schuster of FC Barcelona and Saint-Étienne midfielder Number 10, Michel Platini

December 30, 1981 - Edmonton Oilers Number 99, Wayne Gretzky scored 5 goals and an assist in Edmonton's 7-5 win over Philadelphia; gives Gretzky 50 goals in 39 games, the fastest 50 in 50 in NHL history; also sets NHL record with 15-game assist streak

December 30, 1986 - Ballon d'Or: Dynamo Kyiv's Ukrainian forward Number 10, Igor Belanov was named best football player in Europe ahead of Barcelona striker Number 8, Gary Lineker and Real Madrid forward Number 7, Emilio Butragueño

December 30, 1992 - Washington defenseman Number 34, Al Iafrate became the first player in NHL history to have his shot officially break 100 miles per hour; records 101.4 mph during the Capitals Superskills competition

December 30, 2018 - Kansas City Chiefs quarterback, Number 15, Patrick Mahomes became only the second QB in NFL history to throw for 5,000 yards and 50 touchdowns during KC Chiefs' 35-3 win over Oakland Raiders; achieves both marks with 3rd quarter 89-yard TD pass to Number 11, Demarcus Robinson

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 Abram G. Mills, Vice President of the Otis Brothers Company, manufacturers of elevators. Mr. Mills is a broad-minded, energetic and successful man of affairs. He is a veteran of the late war, and is an active member of many military and veteran organizations, and of many clubs and societies devoted to public and political improvement, taken by an unknown circa 1897.