4 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.

4 - 26 - 22 - 34 - 13 - 27 - 87 - 8

May 4, 1871 - The first official league game of baseball was played in the National Association of Baseball Players.  In the contest Fort Wayne out scored Cleveland 2-0. Ft Wayne Deacons player Jim White is the player that recorded the first hit, which was a double.

May 4, 1929 - Yankees star, Lou Gehrig, Number 4, belts three consecutive Home Runs to help New York to an 11-9 victory over the Detroit Tigers. Gehrig knocked a total of 35 pitches over the wall that season for the Yanks. 

05 May 1929, Sun Daily News (New York, New York) Newspapers.com

May 4, 1963 - A very strange record was established by a player on this date. Pitcher Bob Shaw, Number 26 of the Milwaukee Braves was called for five balks in one game as the Chicago Cubs outlasted the Braves 7-5 in a contest that had a total of 7 balks called!

05 May 1963, Sun Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, New Mexico) Newspapers.com

Here are some more events from the hardball diamonds that occured on this date from The Day in Baseball History website

MLB MAY 4

Baseball OTD and MLB May 4

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May 4th in 1980s Baseball

J. Daniel has the scoop on stories from the 1980s decade of the Big Leagues on players like: Willie Horton, Andy Ashby, Dusty Baker, Dave Kingman, Mike Squires, Otto Velez, Ron Davis, Rod Carew, and more. MLB May 4

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This Day in Baseball May 4

This Day in Baseball brings us May 4 history on Fred Brown, Lefty Grove, Babe Ruth, Ben Chapman, Ted Williams, Cecil Travis, Roberto Clemente, Cal Ripken, Andres Galarraga, and more. MLB May 4

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Here are a couple of items from the Vintage Hockey Jerseys website

May 4 1972 - Bobby Orr, Number 4 scored a goal during a 5-2 Boston Bruins loss to the New York Rangers to set a new record for career goals by a defenseman with 17. And it only took Orr 47 games to break the record Red Kelly had set in 90 games.

Here is an item from Hockey Writers website

May 4, 1976 - Reggie Leach, Number 27 scored in his eighth straight playoff game to help the Flyers beat the Boston Bruins 4-2 in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Semifinals. Leach tied the postseason record for the longest goal-scoring streak, held by Maurice Richard, by tying the game at 2-2 in the second period.

The site NHL.com website lets us in on these amazing moments ofthe day.

May 4, 2009 - Sidney Crosby, Number 87 of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Number 8, Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals take their rivalry to a new level when each scores three goals in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

After tying the game early in the second period, Ovechkin powers the Capitals to a 4-3 victory by completing his hat trick with two goals in a span of 2:29 in the third period. His power-play goal at 12:53 puts Washington ahead 3-2, and his shot through a screen and over the glove of Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury at 13:22 makes it 4-2, triggering a deluge of hats.

The website of NBA.com offers these nuggets of history for the day.

May 4, 1970 - The New York Knicks, with Dave DeBusschere, Number 22 forced to play center against Number 13, Wilt Chamberlain after a leg injury sidelined Willis Reed, nevertheless defeated Los Angeles 107-100 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals. The Knicks ultimately captured their first NBA title with a Game 7 victory.

May 4, 1994 - The "Round Mound of Rebound", Charles Barkley, Number 34 of Phoenix hit 23-of-31 field goal attempts and finished with 56 points, leading the visiting Suns to a 140-133 win over Golden State and a three-game sweep of their Western Conference First Round series. Barkley’s 56 points tied for the third-highest total ever in an NBA Playoff game, and his 38 points in the first half set a record. 

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 Professional baseball player Bob Shaw in 1964, taken by an unknown.