5 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 5. 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.

17 - 36 - 5 - 16 - 50 - 25 - 1 - 80 - 32 - 8 - 4

September 5, 1906 - Many claim it was the first legal forward pass in American football history. St. Louis University quarterback Bradbury Robinson threw his legal forward toss  for a TD to Jack Schneider at Carroll College, Waukesha, Wisconsin. St. Louis used the points from possibly the first touchdown pass in history to win by the score of, 22-0.

September 5, 1908 - Brooklyn Superbas pitcher Nap Rucker no-hits Boston Braves, 6-0 at Washington Park, Brooklyn

September 5, 1921 - Walter Johnson set an MLB strikeout mark at 2,287

September 5, 1946 - Joe Garagiola,wearing Number 17 for the Cardinals, played in his 1st major league baseball game, in his hometown of St. Louis; 2 RBI's in Cardinals' win over Chicago Cubs

September 5, 1955 -  LA Dodger Number 36, Don Newcombe hits NL pitcher record 7th HR of season

September 5, 1960 - Indy Driver A. J. Foyt, in the Number 5 car wins the first of 67 Indy car victories at Du Quoin, Illinois. State Fairgrounds

September 5, 1962 - Cubs Ken Hubbs, Number 16 sets 2nd base record for consecutive errorless games at 78 & consecutive errorless chances (418), he errors in the 4th. Full of promise and potential, Hubbs was the victim of one of the most tragic stories in baseball history when sure-handed second baseman at the age of just 22, he died in a plane crash in 1964.

September 5, 1971 - Houston Astros pitcher J. R. Richard, Number 50 debut, struck out 15 Giants in a 5-3 win

September 5, 1971 - New York Mets Don Hahn, Number 25 hit his first inside the park homer against the Phillies at Philadelphia's Vet Stadium

September 5, 1988 - The CFL's Earl Winfield, Number 1 of the Hamilton Tigre-Cats scored some long touchdowns. One was on a 101-yd punt return the others were 100-yd kickoff return and 58-yd pass reception.

September 5, 1994 - San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jerry Rice, Number 80 catches 2 touchdown passes and runs for another score in 49ers' 44-14 rout of the Raiders; surpassed legendary Cleveland Number 32 Jim Brown as NFL's career TD leader with 127

September 5, 1995 - Cal Ripken Jr. Number 8 tied Lou Gehrig's (Number 4) record of playing in 2,130 straight games

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 1906 Bradbury Robinson in the pose of his famous "forward pass", taken by an unknown.