2 September in Sports History

In this edition of the Sports Break we cover the top events in sports history along with the players and athletes that were a part of them for September 2. As a bonus we place the jersey number worn at the time with the athlete as well.

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.

1 - 14 - 6 - 31 - 32 - 44 - 17 - 37 

September 2, 1956 - British Ferrari driver Peter Collins unselfishly hops out and hands over his Number 1 car to retired teammate Juan Manuel Fangio during season ending Italian Grand Prix at Monza; Fangio finishes 2nd to win F1 World Drivers Championship

September 2, 1957 - Milwaukee Braves first baseman Frank Torre, Number 14 scored 6 runs to tie the MLB record;. With this offense it was not wonder that the Braves went on to rout the Chicago Cubs 23-10 that game.

September 2, 1962 - St. Louis first baseman Number 6, Stan Musial's recorded his 3,516th hit in Cards' 4-3 loss v NY Mets. Hitting safely here pushed Musial past Tris Speaker into 2nd place behind Ty Cobb on the MLB all-time list

September 2, 1965 - Chicago Cubs legend Ernie Banks, Number 14 hit his MLB 400th career home run off of Curt Simmons, Number 31.  This Bank's blast propelled Chicago to a 5-3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals at Wrigley Field. You may remember Curt Simmons name from a previous post as he also gave up Willie Mays' 400th home run in 1963.

September 2, 1966 - Joe Auer, Number 32 (a former Georgia Tech player) returned the opening kickoff 95 yards for a Miami touchdown in the Dolphins' first ever AFL regular-season game. Their opponent the Oakland Raiders went on to win the game 23-14 at the Orange Bowl in front of 26,776 fans

September 2, 1972 - Chicago Cubs pitcher Milt Pappas, Number 32 tossed a no-hit gem against the San Diego Padres line up resulting in an 8-0 Cubs win.

September 2, 1978 - New York Yankees right fielder Reggie Jackson, Number 44 hit his 20th HR of the season in a 6-2 home victory over Seattle. Mr. October was the 19th MLB player to hit 20 HR in 11 straight years

September 2, 1987 - Houston Astros outfielder Kevin Bass, Number 17 became the first National League player to switch hit home runs in a game twice in one season in the Astros 10-1 win over the Chicago Cubs

September 2, 1990 - Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Number 37, Dave Stieb threw an MLB record ninth no-hitter of the season! Pretty amazing stuff as the Jay knocked off Cleveland, 3-0

September 2, 2001 - More History at the Eouropean Grand Prix circuit. German Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher, in the Number 1 car won the Belgian Grand Prix at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps for his record 52nd F1 Grand Prix victory

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 Ferrari 166 FL  here as entry #16 driven by Juan Manuel Fangio to a 4th place in the Buenos Aires Grand Prix at Circuito Palermo on 8 May 1950 from El Grafico Magazine