Celebrate February 24 with some great events made by awesome competitors. Sports history was 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.
21 - 7 - 33
February 24, 1917 - The Boston Red Sox sold the rights to righthanded pitcher Smoky Joe Wood, claiming that his arm was used up and dead at the age of 26. The Cleveland Indians didn't think so as they sent $15,000 to the Sox in return for his services. The Sox may have been correct in their assessment of Woods because in three seasons with Cleveland he won only one game and had an ERA of 5.40!
February 24, 1932 - Sir Malcolm Campbell set a world land speed record speed of 253.96 mph driving his famous Blue Bird car at Daytona Beach, Florida
M Campbell at Daytona in 1933 courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
February 24, 1952 - Canada won the country's 6th Olympic ice hockey title courtesy of a final round 3-3 tie with the United States. The Olympics were played at the Oslo Winter Games as Canadian center Billy Gibson topped all scorers with 19 points in the tournament.
February 24, 1963 - Tiny Lund in the Number 21 Ford, driving for the Wood Bros Racing team, won the 5th running of the Daytona 500 using just 4 pit stops as the first 10 laps were run under a caution flag because of rain.
February 24, 1968 - Garry Unger, Number 7 of the Detroit Red Wings (at least at the start) began an NHL consecutive game record that lasted for 914 games and spanned from from Feb. 24, 1968, through Dec. 21, 1979, breaking the previous mark of 630 held by Andy Hebenton according to NHL.com
February 24, 1987 - LA Lakers center Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Number 33 scored his 36,000th NBA point in a 97-93 win over the Suns in Phoenix
