1 July in Sports History

We have quite a bit of old school team sports history for this July 1 so sorry no uniform numbers today

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.

July 1, 1859 -  The first intercollegiate baseball game was played, as Amherst defated Williams 73-32 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. I am not quite sure they had the whole concept down on how to get someone out.  Accoroding to a SABR.org article, "Amherst College was founded when Zephania Swift Moore, president of Williams College in Williamstown, in the extreme northwest corner of Western Massachusetts, resigned after a dispute over the school’s isolated location. Moore took 15 students with him and started an institution in the town of Amherst, 60 miles to the east. To this day, Williams students and alumni regard those from the upstart Amherst as renegades, “the Defectors of 1821.”

This game was played under the Massachusetts Rules, otherwise known as roundball. Some aspects of this variation of baseball included the fact that all ground was fair, runners could be put out by being hit by a thrown ball, and a single out ended each inning.  It didn't really get measured by an amount of innings or frames as they were called then , but by a predtermined score, in this case 65.

The lopsided 73-32 whooping that Amherst gave Williams, which in fact went over the agreed-upon 65-run limit during a 10-run 26th inning. Remember by rule the innings were all just one-out long, and the 3½ hours to play the game, really pretty much equaled a modern game length.  the SABR post also included the fact that all-in-all, "There were only two fewer outs recorded than in a modern nine-inning contest."

July 1, 1910 - The Chicago's White Sox Park whic was later called Comiskey Park openened up for some business of basball. - St Louis Browns beat  those White Sox, 2-0.

July 1, 1916 - Pittsburgh shortstop Honus Wagner, at the ripe old age of 42 years and 4 months, hit the ball hard and ran like the wind in Cincinnati to become the oldest player to hit an inside-the-park HR. The Bucco neded that run too as they won over the Reds, 2-1.

Maybe there was a bit of revenge one year later when these same two team met on...

July 1, 1917 - As the Reds' Fred Toney pitched 2 complete games in doubleheader victories over those Pirates, allows 3 hits each game, fewest allowed by any pitcher winning 2 MLB games in one day.

That same day in New York...

July 1, 1917 - It was a direct breaking of NY state blue law as the Brooklyn Robins ( later to become the Dodgers) played their first Sunday MLB game in Brooklyn. The owner and manager arrested but escape with a fine as the Robins edged Philadelphia, 3-2.

July 1, 1920 - Washington Senators pitching legend Walter Johnson no-hit the Boston Red Sox 1-0 at Fenway Park. Unbeleivably this was the only no-hitter of his illustrious career.

July 1, 1920 - The St Louis Cardinals became the renting tenants of their American League counter part the St Louis Browns, as the Cards abandoned Robison Field midway through the MLB season and returned to Sportsman's Park.

July 1, 1931 - Cleveland Municipal Stadium home of the MLB: Indians and the NFL: Browns, openedup with 78,189 in seating capacity. The Old Stadiun was demolished 1996.

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 Brady quinn's first game taken by Sam Morris