15 May 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.

May 15, 1912 - Detroit Tigers star slugger Ty Cobb,  let's an obnoxious fan get to him and the player leaped the railing to climb into the stands to assualt the heckler at a New York Highlander game.  Cobb was suspended for his actions by the AL Commissioner. More to come on this in the following days.

May 15, 1918 - The Big Train, Walter Johnson, pitcher for the Washington Senators baffles the opposition for 18 innings in a 1-0 Senator Victory. Lefty Wiliams was onthe mound for the Chicago White Sox that and also pitched a brilliant performance only to fall victim to Washington in the extra inning affair.

May 15, 1938 - Baseball legend, Buck O'Neil made his debut playing for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro League Baseball League at Ruppert Stadium, Kansas City.

There is so much history made by athletes each and every day. Here are some more places to find even more sports history for May 15.

Today in Hockey History for May 15

The Hockey Writers web page gives us Today in Hockey History on May 15 with some tremendous stories on Phil Esposito, Ken Hodge, Fred Stanfield, Pit Martin, Jack Norris, Gilles Marotte, Bobby Clarke, Felix Potvin, and more.

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This Day in Hockey History – May 15

Hooked on Hockey magazine shares the great events in hockey for May 15.

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This Day In Hockey History-May 15

The website This Day In Hockey History posts some great items for hockey history of May 15.

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This Day In Baseball May 15

The This Day In Baseball crew strikes gold with the top events in baseball history from May 15. They have dozens of events pertaining to the day in the MLB with players like Tom Seaver, Union Grounds, Willie Keeler, Dummy Taylor, Hooks Wiltse, Walter Johnson, Bobo Newsom, Ted Williams, Sal Maglie, and more involved.

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May 15th in 1980s Baseball

J. Daniel does it again with the biggest moments from the MLB on May 15 during the 1980s decade like this:

May 15, 1984 -The MLB debut of pitcher Roger Clemens, in freezing temperatures with the Boston Red Sox.

There are also bits about John Smoltz, George Brett, Bill North, Rick Waits, Erick King, Len Barker, Chris Welsh, and more.

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The picture in the banner above is from the Wikipedia Commons photo collection of the Public Domain of a cropped installment of a 1915 card showing Walter Johnson presented by Cracker Jack.

Special thanks to Baseball-Reference.com, Stathead.com and the most wonderful book by Larry Lester and Wayne Stivers, The Negro Leagues Book, Volume 2.