4 July in Sports History

On this July 4th edition we remember the stars of the baseball diamonds setting of the fireworks with some very memorable moments in sports history.

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.

5 - 4

July 4, 1905 - When two Titans of the baseball mound squared off you just had know something epic had to come out of it, and it did. Major League Baseball Hall of Fame pitchers Rube Waddell for the Philadelphia Athletics's and ace Cy Young of the Boston Americans matched-up in 20-inning classic. Philadelphia win, 4-2. The National Baseball Hall of Fame Website called it the Game of the Ages, and there is no disputing that. Each star hurler tossed between 250 and 300 pitches in the extra inning contest. One would thing that was a long day and it was, but it wasn't even the first game played that day between these two clubs, it was the second of a double header! According to National Baseball Hall of Fame Website it went something like this, "

In game one of the scheduled doubleheader, Waddell came on with one out in the ninth inning to preserve a 5-2 Athletics lead, earning a save by today’s rules. In the second game, the lanky and zany (some would say crazy) left-hander started off a bit shaky, allowing two runs in the bottom of the first. A’s first baseman Harry Davis tied things up with a two-run homer off Cy Young in the sixth inning. Then followed 13 innings of scoreless baseball as Waddell and Young went toe-to-toe. On several occasions the Americans got men to third base, but Waddell would work his way out of the jam each time. Philadelphia had its moments as well, but Young was able to beat them back." How is that for some fireworks on Independence Day!

July 4, 1908 - New York Giants pitcher George "Hooks" Wiltse tossed a fabulous no-hit performance against the Philadelphia Phillies, in 10 innings for a 1-0 victory.

July 4, 1911 - Chicago White Sox pitcher Ed Walsh stopped the 40-game hitting streak of one Mr. Ty Cobb as the hitting legend went 0 for 4 in a 7-3 win for the Sox over Detroit Tigers at Bennett Park.

July 4, 1939 - The Red Sox 3rd baseman Jim Tabor, wearing Number 5 hit a record-tying two grand slams in one MLB game, 18-12 win versus the Phillies of Philadelphia.

05 Jul 1939, Wed The Pomona Progress Bulletin (Pomona, California) Newspapers.com

July 4, 1939 - Lou Gehrig became the first MLB player to have his Number 4 retired on his "Appreciation Day" at Yankee Stadium. During the ceremonies the former Yankee star suffereing from a dibilitating diseease made the iconic "luckiest man" speech.

July 4, 1950 - Boston Braves hitter wearing Number 4, Sid Gordon tied an MLB single season grand slam record of 4 base cleaners with a bases loaded hit vs Phillies

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 Newspapers.com of  some Jim Tabor sketches from the July 5, 1939, The Pomona Progress Bulletin (Pomona, California) drawn by an artist named Art Krenz for the Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA), which syndicated cartoons, columns and comic strips to over 700 newspapers .