22 June in Sports History

The Sports events of June 22 have some of the grats in baseball involved including Lou Gehrig, Ernie Banks and a losing streak you may not believe!

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.

4 - 32 - 14

June 22, 1889 - A team by the name of the Louisville Colonels set a Major League Baseball record when they suffered what would be their 26th consecutive loss of a baseball game.

June 22, 1929 - New York Giants star hitter, Mel Ott homered three times against Philadelphia Phillies hurlers in a doubleheader in the City of Brotherly Love. The Giants used the offensive production from Ott to capture both games of the twinbill from their hosts. Ott would eventually start wearing the Number 4 on his Giants uni in coming years when it became mandatory. 

June 22, 1930 - New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig, Number 4 crushed 3 Home Runs in a 20-13 romp over the Philadelphia Athletic's at Shibe Park in Philly.

June 22, 1959 - LA Dodgers ace Sandy Koufax wearing Number 32, fanned an astounding 16 Philadelphia Phillies batters to aid in a 6-2 Dodgers win. This was almost 10% of Koufax's K's registered for the season as he finished with 173.

23 Jun 1959, Tue The Evening Sun (Hanover, Pennsylvania) Newspapers.com

June 22, 1961 - The Chicago Cubs' ironman Ernie Banks, Number 14 had his 717 consecutive games played streak end. The veteran hitter had to go on the Disabled List for 18 days due to an infection in his hand.

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 John Nelson Kerins, a Catcher for the Louisville Colonels, from the Old Judge series for Old Judge Cigarettes circa 1888.