26 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 on September 26. 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.

35 - 6 - 8 - 7 - 21 - 19 - 9 - 48 - 30 - 22 - 13 - 31 - 25 - 24

September 26, 1906 - Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Lefty Leifield threw a no-hitter against the Philadelphia Phillies, for an 8-0 victory in a 6 inning game

September 26, 1921 - New York Yankee legend Babe Ruth hits season home runs number 57 and 58 to help the Yanks defeat the Cleveland Indians by the score of 8-7

September 26, 1950 - This could be a tired arm! Phillies pitcher Jim Konstanty, Number 35 made a record 71st appearance of season.

September 26, 1953 -  An end of an era. Shortstop Number 6, Billy Hunter smashed the final home run in St Louis Browns history during a 6-3 loss to Chicago White Sox at Busch Stadium. The franchise moved to Baltimore to become the Orioles before the next season started.

September 26, 1954 - A switcharoo! Yogi Berra, Number 8 normally a catcher and occasional outfielder played his only MLB game at 3rd base as Number 7, Mickey Mantle played out of his normal field position to play shortstop in the contest.

September 26, 1959 - Milwaukee Braves Warren Spahn, Number 21 became the winningest NL left handed pitcher

September 26, 1959 - San Francisco Giants pitcher Sam Jones, Number 19 tossed his 2nd career no-hitter, defeating the St Louis Cards, 4-0

September 26, 1961 - Yankees Number 9, Roger Maris hit his 58th homerun if the season off of pitcher Jack Fisher, Number 48 of the Baltimore Orioles tying Babe Ruth's record

September 26, 1962 - LA Dodgers shortstop Number 30, Maury Wills becomes first player in MLB history to steal 100 bases. The speedster would eventually reach 104 on the year.

September 26, 1971 - Jim Palmer, Number 22 of Baltimore became the 4th Oriole to win at least 20 games this season

September 26, 1973 - Wilt Chamberlain, Number 13 signed a contract  with the American Basketball Association's franchise the San Diego Conquistadors

September 26, 1983 - St Louis Cardinals' hurler, Bob Forsch, Number 31 pitched his 2nd career no-hitter, beating Montreal Expos 3-0, in St. Louis

September 26, 1983 - Ali Haji-Sheikh, Number 6 kicked a New York Giants record 56 yard field goal.

September 26, 1996 - San Francisco Giants Number 25, Barry Bonds became the 2nd player to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in a single season.

September 26, 1997 - Seattle Mariner Ken Griffey Jr., Number 24 hit his 56th HR of 1997

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 the Al. P. Leifield/George Gibson, Pittsburgh Pirates, baseball card sponsored by the American Tobacco Company, circa 1912.