25 June in Sports History

The history of events in sports for June 25 can be summed up with two words, Iron Man as multiple athletes on this day earned the title by their peers and the press of their respective eras. They did some amazing things on this day in 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.

4 - 25 - 10 

June 25, 1903 - Boston Beaneater Wiley Piatt became only 20th-century pitcher to lose 2 complete games in one day, falling to Pittsburgh 1-0 & 5-3. Wiley entered the MLB on fire in 1898, as he had just one year of minor-league ball under his, but still he tossed over 600 innings the next two seasons and won 47 games while orchestrating 64 complete games. None of those heroics earned him a lasting nickname but that would come later. The name came on this day, at the tail end of his career, he pitched complete games in both ends this doubleheader for the Boston Beaneaters. Fans quickly dubbed him “Iron Man.”

June 25, 1934 - Talk about iron man , well how about old Number 4, of the NewYork Yankees, Lou Gehrig hit for the cycle beating White Sox 11-2. During the contest an odd event occurred when NY pitcher John Broaca ties record by striking out 5 times in the contest.

June 25, 1968 - Bobby Bonds, wearing his famous Number 25 jersey hit a grand slam in his first major league game for the San Francisco Giants. The Giants had won their 6th straight game with the 9-0 victory over their old rivals from New York, the LA Dodgers.

26 Jun 1968, Wed The Californian (Salinas, California) Newspapers.com

June 25, 1978 - In the FIFA World Cup Soccer Final, El Monumental, Buenos Aires, Argentina: Striker Mario Kempes in his Number 10 jersey scored 2 goals as Argentina beats the Netherlands, 3-1 after extra time

26 Jun 1978, Mon The Ithaca Journal (Ithaca, New York) Newspapers.com

June 25, 1988 - Baltimore Orioles player Cal Ripken Jr. played in his 1,000th consecutive game. Little did we know at the time, but this wasn't even the halfway point of the streak. He went on a tear, through the wear and tear to play in 2632 games without a day off! On May 30, 1982, the Baltimore shortstop began “the streak” which ended up being the longest stretch of consecutive games played by anyone in baseball history, and in the process earned the moniker “Iron Man.” Ripken Jr. was a throwback. He played hard, he played to win, and he played in every game. Truly an amazing record by an amazing player!

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 Cal Ripken Jr. as a coach for the Baltimore Orioles during pre-game in 2007, taken by an unknown.