26 June in Sports History

The players and their uniform numbers that made sports history for June 26 are pretty interesting. From the numbers thems selves to some legendary baseball players to a great pick in the NBA.

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.

26 - 20 - 2

June 26, 1916 - The Cleveland Indians experimented with placing numbers on their jerseys all be it for just one game. This endeavor by the Indians was years ahead of its time. Cleveland you see became the first Major League club to put a number on every baseball team member. The numerals were large enough to see from a distance but they were not where one would expect to see them. The Cleveland squad had them on their left sleeves to denote who was who to the fans. The Baseball Hall of Fame suggests that since there was a scorecard produced and distributed to the fans with the players’ names associated with their number, that this could have also been the genesis of the modern game day program.

June 26, 1938 - It was a popluar catch phrase of Wrigley Gum to promote "Doubling your pleasure" with their product of Double Mint Gum. However it was not the team that played home games at Wrigley Field that enjoyed the double connotation on this day in sports history. In fact it was in Philadelphia at the Baker Bowl where the Cincinnati Reds were visiting the Phillies. Reds Lonny Frey, Number 47 who hit 8 doubles in the two games of the doubleheader of games played. Suprisingly The Reds lost the first game 3-10 and won game two 8-5. Baxter Jordan Number 8 of the Philles also posted 8 hits on the day for Philadelphia. Jordan had played for the Reds earlier in the season before signinin on with Philly.

June 26, 1962 - Boston Red Sox pitcher Earl Wilson, wearing Number 26 tossed a beauty of a no-hitter against the LA Angels in a 2-0 Boston victory. Later in his career Wilson would be on the 1968 Detroit Tigers team that played in the World Series.

June 26, 1970 - It is an amazing game when fans get to witness a player smack a base clearing grand-slam, tallying four runs on the scoreboard with one swing of the bat. How about this though, Frank Robinson, donning his famous Number 20 uniform hit two grand slams for the Orioles in one game as Baltimore Orioles beat Washington Senators 12-2. The even more amazing part of this story though is that he did it injured, and the injury occurred with athletic heroics in the previous game!  These two at bats with 8RBIs followed the day after Robinson cracked a rib while making a game-saving home run robbery in extra innings. Talk about a spectacular couple of games for number 20!

27 Jun 1970, Sat The Des Moines Register (Des Moines, Iowa) Newspapers.com

June 26, 1991 - At the NBA Draft the Charlotte Hornets used the first overall selection to take UNLV power forward Larry Johnson. Johnson would wear Number 2 for the Hornets in his rookie season.

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 Jim Bagby Sr., playing for the Cleveland AL (baseball) from the Bain News Service, publisher, circa 1920.