SPORTS HISTORY: May 1-May 5

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This week read about the NCAA’s original name, a perfect game & the NBA playoffs

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May 1

1883 First National League baseball game in Philadelphia since 1876, Providence Greys beat Philadelphia Quakers, 4-3

1883 Bob Rogers is acknowledged as the first American pro sports trainer when he is hired by the NY Athletic Club

1884 Catcher Moses Walker is acknowledged as the first African-American to play major league baseball joining the Toledo Blue Stockings

1901 Chicago White Sox outfielder Herm McFarland hits first grand slam in American League history in 19-9 win at home against Detroit; Tigers commit 12 errors

1906 Philadelphia Athletics pitcher John Lush no-hits the Brooklyn Superbas, 6-0

1920 Roermond Football Club (1936 KNVB Cup) is established in Netherlands

1920 Legendary slugger Babe Ruth smashes his 50th MLB career home run, his first for the NY Yankees in 6-0 win over the Boston Red Sox

1920 Longest MLB game by innings - Brooklyn Robins tie the Boston Braves, 1-1, in 26 innings

1925 Future Baseball Hall of Fame catcher Jimmie Foxx makes his MLB debut at 17 for Philadelphia A’s; pinch-hits a single in 9-4 loss v Washington

1926 Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Satchel Paige (19) debuts in the Negro Southern League for Chattanooga

1940 Summer Olympics (scheduled for Helsinki) are cancelled by the Finnish OC because of WWII

1943 69th Kentucky Derby: Johnny Longden wins aboard heavy favourite Count Fleet in the ‘street car Derby’

1947 Cleveland Indians abandon League Park (venue for weekday games) to play all MLB games at Municipal Stadium

1948 74th Kentucky Derby: Eddie Arcaro wins aboard Citation to become first 4-time Derby winning jockey

1951 Future Baseball Hall of Fame slugger Mickey Mantle hits first career home run in 8-3 win v White Sox in Chicago; Minnie Minoso homers in Sox debut

1965 91st Kentucky Derby: Bill Shoemaker wins aboard Lucky Debonair, the third of his 4 Derby victories

1965 Stanley Cup, Montreal Forum, Montreal, Quebec: Dick Duff has a goal and 2 assists as Montreal Canadiens beat Chicago Blackhawks, 4-0 in Game 7 to take title 4-3

1969 Houston Astros hurler Don Wilson blanks Cincinnati Reds, 4-0 for second career no-hitter

1969 Leonard Tose buys NFL Philadelphia Eagles for a professional sports record $16.15m

1971 97th Kentucky Derby: Gustavo Ávila wins aboard Canonero II (wins Preakness May 15)

1976 102nd Kentucky Derby: Angel Cordero Jr wins aboard Bold Forbes, the second of 3 Derby successes

1977 French runner Chantal Langlacé sets female world marathon record (2:35:15.4) in Oyarzun, Spain

1977 American golfer Debbie Austin wins the Birmingham Classic, the first of 5 LPGA Tour victories in a 4-month span

1981 Tennis player Billie Jean King acknowledges a lesbian relationship with Marilyn Barnett - becoming first prominent sportswoman to come out

1982 108th Kentucky Derby: Ed Delahoussaye wins aboard Gato Del Sol, the first of consecutive Derby victories (1983 Sunny’s Halo)

1984 NFL Draft: Nebraska wide receiver Irving Fryar first pick by New England Patriots

1988 After scoring 50 points in Game 1, NBA Eastern Conference playoff series, Michael Jordan has 55 in Chicago Bulls 106-101 win vs Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 2; first to score 50+ points in consecutive playoff games

1991 A’s outfielder Rickey Henderson steals all time MLB record 939th base in 7-4 win vs New York Yankees in Oakland

1991 Texas Rangers starter Nolan Ryan pitches MLB record 7th no hitter; beats Toronto, 3-0; at 44, Ryan is oldest to throw no-hitter

1993 119th Kentucky Derby: Jerry Bailey wins aboard Sea Hero, the first of 2 Derby victories (1996 on Grindstone)

1994 Three-time World Formula 1 Drivers champion Ayrton Senna of Brazil is killed in a 309 kmh crash whilst leading the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola in Italy

1995 Montreal Canadiens lose 2-0 at Buffalo to miss Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in 25 years

1996 Miami Heat beaten, 112-91 to Chicago Bulls to be swept 3-0 in round 1 of NBA Eastern Division playoffs; first time in his 14 years as head coach Pat Riley ousted in the opening round 2002 Padres closer Trevor Hoffman sets MLB record for saves for one team (321) in 4-3 win v Chicago Cubs in San Diego

2004 130th Kentucky Derby: Stewart Elliott wins aboard Smarty Jones. North American wagering records smashed ($142m on 12-race card)

2004 Giants outfielder Barry Bonds sets MLB record for being intentionally walked 4 times in a 9-inning game during 6-3 defeat of Florida in SF

2010 136th Kentucky Derby: Calvin Borel wins aboard Super Saver, his third Derby success in 4 years

2012 Guggenheim Partners make the largest ever purchase of a sports franchise after buying the Los Angeles Dodgers for $2.1 billion

May 2

1876 Ross Barnes hit 1st home run in National League

1903 29th Kentucky Derby: Hal Booker riding Judge Himes wins in 2:09

1904 30th Kentucky Derby: Shorty Prior riding Elwood wins in 2:08.50

1906 32nd Kentucky Derby: Roscoe Troxler aboard Sir Huon wins in 2:08.8

1909 Honus Wagner steals his way around bases in 1st inning against Cubs

1923 Senator Walter Johnson pitches his 100th shutout, beats Yanks 3-0

1939 Lou Gehrig ends 2,130 consecutive game streak, Yanks beat Tigers 22-2

1968 22nd NBA Championship: Boston Celtics beat LA Lakers, 4 games to 2

1970 1st woman jockey at Kentucky Derby (Diane Crump)

1970 96th Kentucky Derby: Mike Manganello on Dust Commander wins 2:03.4

1978 NBA championship: Portland Trailblazers win in 4 games

1978 1978 NFL Draft: Earl Campbell from University of Texas first pick by Houston Oilers

1979 -May 10] Vivekananda (Sri Lanka) begins nonstop ride, cycling 187 hrs, 28 min, around Vihara Maha Devi Park, Colombo, Sri Lanka

1981 107th Kentucky Derby: Jorge Velásquez on Pleasant Colony wins in 2:02

1987 113th Kentucky Derby: Chris McCarron aboard Alysheba wins in 2:03.4

1988 Baltimore Orioles sign a 15 year lease to remain in Baltimore and get a new park

1999 John Elway announces his retirement from the NFL

2015 Floyd Mayweather Jr. beats Manny Pacquiao on points in 12 rounds in world welterweight unification fight, shatters all financial records for a boxing match

2016 Leicester City win the English Premier League title after starting the season at 5,000-1 odds

May 3

1900 26th Kentucky Derby: Jimmy Boland aboard Lieut Gibson wins in 2:06.25

1902 28th Kentucky Derby: Jimmy Winkfield on Alan-a-Dale wins in 2:08.75

1903 AVC Heracles (SC Heracles ‘74) soccer team forms in Almelo

1909 35th Kentucky Derby: Vincent Powers on Wintergreen wins in 2:08.2

1910 Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States is renamed the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)

1934 Bradman scores 206 Aust v Worcestershire, 210 mins, 27 fours

Cricket Legend Donald Bradman

1936 NY Yankee Joe DiMaggio makes his major-league debut, gets 3 hits

1941 67th Kentucky Derby: Eddie Arcaro aboard Whirlaway, 1st leg of successful Triple Crown

1947 73rd Kentucky Derby: Eric Guerin aboard Jet Pilot wins in 2:06.8

1951 Gil McDougald ties major league record with 6 RBIs in 1 inning

1951 NY Yankee Gil McDougald is 5th to get 6 RBIs in an inning (9th)

1952 78th Kentucky Derby: Eddie Arcaro aboard Hill Gail wins his record fifth Derby

1958 84th Kentucky Derby: Ismael Valenzuela aboard Tim Tam wins in 2:05

1969 95th Kentucky Derby: Bill Hartack on Majestic Prince wins in 2:01.8

1970 24th NBA Championship: NY Knicks beat LA Lakers, 4 games to 3

1975 101st Kentucky Derby: Jacinto Vasquez on Foolish Pleasure wins 2:02

1975 Christa Vahlensieck runs female world record marathon (2:40:15.8)

1977 1977 NFL Draft: Ricky Bell from USC first pick by Tampa Bay Buccaneers

1978 Last cricket test match appearance for Bobby Simpson, at Kingston

1978 WI all set to lose cricket test v Aust at Kingston till riots end game

1979 1979 NFL Draft: Tom Cousineau from Ohio State first pick by Buffalo Bills

1980 106th Kentucky Derby: Jacinto Vasquez on Genuine Risk wins in 2:02

1980 Giants 1st baseman Willie McCovey hits his 521st & final HR

1980 Texas Ranger Ferguson Jenkins becomes 4th to win 100 games in AL & NL

1983 NHL Clarence Campbell Conference Final: Edmonton Oilers beat Chicago Black Hawks, 4 games to 0

1986 112th Kentucky Derby: Bill Shoemaker aboard Ferdinand wins in 2:02.8

1986 Cubs 3rd baseman Ron Cey hits his 300th & 301st HR

1986 NY Yankee Don Mattingly is 6th to hit 3 sacrifice flies in a game

1991 Cam Neely is injured on a cheap shot by Ulf Samuelsson, an injury that would limit him to only 162 games for the remainder of his NHL career and force him to retire at 31

1992 NY Met Eddie Murray is 24th to hit 400 HRs

1992 Ohio Glory wins 1st WLAF game (after 6 loses), beat Frankfurt 20-17

1995 Australia beat West Indies to regain the Frank Worrell Cricket Trophy

1997 123rd Kentucky Derby: Gary Stevens aboard Silver Charm wins in 2:02.3

1997 Garry Kasparov begins chess match with IBM supercomputer Deep Blue

1999 Stephen Hendry defeats Mark Williams 18-11 to win the World Snooker Championship for a record seventh time.

2000 The sport of geocaching begins, with the first cache placed and the coordinates from a GPS posted on Usenet.

2003 129th Kentucky Derby: Jose Santos aboard Funny Cide wins in 2:01.19

2008 134th Kentucky Derby: Kent Desormeaux aboard Big Brown wins in 2:01.82

2014 140th Kentucky Derby: Victor Espinoza aboad California Chrome wins in 2:03.66

2015 Chelsea wins the 2014–15 English football Premier League

2018 Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan becomes NFL’s first $30m per season player after agreeing to $150m contract extension

May 4

1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings play their first official game as the sport’s first professional side against the Great Western Base Ball Club winning 45-9

1871 1st baseball league game (National Association of Baseball Players), (Ft Wayne 2, Cleveland 0) Deacon Jim White gets 1st hit, a double

1893 Cowboy Bill Pickett invents bulldogging, the skill of grabbing cattle by the horns and wrestling them to the ground

1897 23rd Kentucky Derby: Buttons Garner aboard Typhoon II wins in 2:12.5

1898 24th Kentucky Derby: Willie Simms aboard Plaudit wins in 2:09

1899 25th Kentucky Derby: Fred Taral aboard Manuel wins in 2:12

1918 Yankees set record with 8 sacrifices, beat Red Sox’s Babe Ruth 5-4

1919 1st legal Sunday baseball game in NYC, 35,000 watch the Phillies beat the NY Giants 4-3

1924 VIII Summer Olympic Games open at Olympic Stadium of Colombes, Paris, France

1929 Lou Gehrig hits 3 consecutive HRs, Yankees 11, Tigers 9

1935 61st Kentucky Derby: Willie Saunders aboard Omaha wins in 2:05

1940 66th Kentucky Derby: Carroll Bierman aboard Gallahadion wins in 2:05

1946 72nd Kentucky Derby: Warren Mehrtens aboard Assault wins in 2:06.6

1949 Plane carrying the entire Torino Serie A soccer squad crashes on the outskirts of Turin, Italy; 31 killed; Torino awarded League title at the request of their rivals

1957 83rd Kentucky Derby: Bill Hartack aboard Iron Liege wins in 2:02.2

1963 89th Kentucky Derby: Braulio Baeza aboard Chateaugay wins in 2:01.8

1963 Pitcher Bob Shaw sets record of 5 balks in a game

1965 Willie Mays 512th HR breaks Mel Ott’s 511th NL record

1968 1st ABA championship: Pitts Pipers beat NO Buccaneers, 4 games to 3

1968 94th Kentucky Derby: Ismael Valenzuela aboard Forward Pass wins

1969 Stanley Cup Final, St. Louis Arena, St. Louis, MO: John Ferguson scores the winner as Montreal Canadiens edge St Louis Blues, 2-1 for a 4 game series sweep

1973 Longest baseball game in Veterans’ Stadium, Phillies beat Braves 5-4 in 20 innings

1974 100th Kentucky Derby: Angel Cordero Jr. aboard Cannonade wins in 2:04

1975 Houston’s Bob Watson scores baseball’s one-millionth run of all time

1980 Dodgers bat out of order against Phillies in 1st inning

1980 White Sox 1st baseman Mike Squires catches final inning of 11-1 loss to Brewers, becoming 1st lefty to catch since Dale Long in 1958

1982 Twins rookie outfielder Jim Eisenreich, who suffers from Tourette’s Syndrome, removes himself, due to taunts from Red Sox bleacher fans

1982 NHL Prince of Wales Conference Final: New York Islanders beat Quebec Nordiques, 4 games to 0

1985 111th Kentucky Derby: Angel Cordero Jr on Spend A Buck wins 2:00.2

1990 Oriole Gregg Olson sets relief pitcher rec of 41 cons scoreless inns

1991 117th Kentucky Derby: Chris Antley wins aboard Strike the Gold, the first of 2 Derby victories

1991 NY Mets M Sasser & Mark Carreon are 8th to hit consecutive pinch HRs

1994 Arsenal of England win 34th European Cup Winner’s Cup against Parma of Italy 1-0 in Copenhagen

1996 122nd Kentucky Derby: Jerry Bailey wins aboard Grindstone, his second Derby victory (1993 Sea Hero)

2002 Barry Bonds hits his 400th home run as an SF Giant, in a 3-0 win over Cincinnati. Bonds is first player with 400 homers for one team and 100 with another (Pirates)

2002 128th Kentucky Derby: Victor Espinoza aboard War Emblem wins in 2:01.13

2002 English FA Cup Final, Millennium Stadium, Cardiff (73,963): Arsenal beats Chelsea, 2-0 for 8th title

2013 Floyd Mayweather Jr. defeats Robert Guerrero to retain his WBC Welterweight title

2013 139th Kentucky Derby: Joel Rosario aboard Orb wins in 2:02.89

2015 Golden State Warrior Stephen Curry is named MVP for the 2014-15 NBA season

2015 Stuart Bingham wins the 2015 World Snooker Championship

2018 LA Angels 1st baseman Albert Pujols collects his 3,000th MLB hit in a 5-0 win v Mariners in Seattle

2019 Mexican boxer Canelo Alvarez unifies a trio of middleweight world titles in a close, unanimous decision over Daniel Jacobs at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV

2019 145th Kentucky Derby: stewards disqualify firstacross-the-line Maximum Security for interference; longshot Country House declared winner; first DQ in race history for race infraction

May 5

1904 Cy Young pitches the first perfect game in “modern” baseball for Boston Americans against Philadelphia Athletics’s (3-0)

1908 34th Kentucky Derby: Arthur Pickens on Stone Street wins in 2:15.2

1917 St Louis Brown Ernie Koob no-hits Chicago White Sox, 1-0

1938 Phillies Harold Kelleher faces 16 batters in 6th, as Cubs score 12 runs, both marks are NL records off one hurler in a single inning

1949 Detroit Tigers second baseman Charlie Gehringer is elected in the Baseball Hall of Fame

1951 77th Kentucky Derby: Conn McCreary aboard Count Turf wins in 2:02.6

1952 Ron Necciai of Pitts Pirate’s Bristol Twins Class D farm team, strikes out 27, as he no-hits Welch Minors, 4 Minors do reach base

1956 82nd Kentucky Derby: David Erb aboard Needles wins in 2:03.4

1956 Broekster Boys soccer team forms in Damwoude

1956 World championships of judo are 1st held in Tokyo

1966 Stanley Cup Final, Olympia Stadium, Detroit, MI: Montreal Canadiens earn back-to-back titles; beat Detroit Red Wings, 3-2 in OT for a 4-2 series victory

1987 Detroit Tigers are 11 games back in AL, but go on to win AL East

1995 Last basketball game at Boston Gardens (Magic beats Celtics)

2018 Former Manchester United Manager Sir Alex Ferguson suffers a brain haemorrhage and is hospitalised; recovers

—Information for this article was compiled from OnThisDay.com.