TODAY IN HISTORY

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1938 NHL Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Americans combine to score 8 goals in just under 5 minutes; Toronto wins game 8-5.

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1934 American all-round female super athlete Babe Didrikson Zaharias pitches a hitless inning for Philadelphia A's in their exhibition pre-season baseball game against Brooklyn Dodgers.

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1978 Padres fire Al Dark (2nd manager ever fired during spring training).

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1946

First U.S. built rocket to leave the Earth’s atmosphere reaches a 50-mile height.

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1964 The Great Alaska Earthquake (9.2 magnitude) and resulting tsunami kill 139 people in the largest US earthquake and second largest ever recorded

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Canadian ice-hockey player Wayne Gretzky, considered by many to be the greatest player in NHL history, scored the final goal of his career; he retired at the end of the season. (1999)

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1943 5th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Wyoming beats Georgetown, 46-34; Cowboys' point guard Ken Sailors is named tournament Most Outstanding Player

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1973 Boston Celtics captain John Havlicek scores career high 54 points in 134-109 rout of Atlanta Hawks in Game 1 of 1st round Eastern Conference playoffs; hits NBA playoff record 24-of-36 field-goal attempts

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1924
Four planes leave Seattle on the first successful flight around the world.

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1912 Tiger Stadium in Detroit opens, Tigers beat Cleveland Indians 6-5

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1986

The world’s worst nuclear disaster occurs at the Chernobyl power plant in the Soviet Union.

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1878 Thomas Edison's Phonograph shown for 1st time at Grand Opera House

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1869
The Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads meet in Promontory, Utah.

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On this date in 1976, pitching for the Houston Astros, Joe Niekro hit the only home run of his 22-year career. The 31-year-old right-hander delivered a seventh-inning, game-tying blast that was key to a 4-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves.
The pitcher giving up the gopher ball to Niekro, who slugged at a .188 clip? None other than Niekro’s 37-year-old brother, knuckleball artist Phil, a frequent Cy Young contender at that stage of his career.
“It was a knuckleball,” Joe told Wayne Minshew of the Atlanta Journal and Constitution. “I didn’t know it was going. I knew I hit it good though. When I got to first, (first-base coach) Bob Lillis said it was a home run, and I almost missed the bag. I couldn’t believe it.”
The Niekro brothers combined to play 46 big-league seasons and win 539 games. Phil, the Hall of Famer, posted 318 wins; Joe retired with 221. Phil also hit more home runs (7), though he never connected off his brother in the nine games they were opposing pitchers.

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The first flight over the Pacific takes off from Oakland.
May 31, 1928.

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1917 Boston Braves first baseman Hank Gowdy is first active MLB player to enlist for service in World War I; only player to fight in both World War I & II

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On June 2, 1935, Babe Ruth, one of the greatest players in the history of baseball, ends his Major League playing career after 22 seasons, 10 World Series and 714 home runs. The following year, Ruth, a larger-than-life figure whose name became synonymous with baseball, was one of the first five players inducted into the sport’s hall of fame.

George Herman Ruth was born February 6, 1895, into a poor family in Baltimore. As a child, he was sent to St. Mary’s Industrial School for Boys, a school run by Roman Catholic brothers, where he learned to play baseball and was a standout athlete. At 19, Ruth was signed by the Baltimore Orioles. Ruth’s fellow teammates and the media began referring to him as team owner Jack Dunn’s newest “babe,” a nickname that stuck. Ruth would later acquire other nicknames, including “The Sultan of Swat” and “The Bambino.”

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1851 1st baseball uniforms worn when the NY Knickerbockers wear a uniform of straw hats, white shirts and blue long trousers

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1940 1st NL night game at Sportsman's Park (Dodgers 10, Cardinals 1)

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1927 Future Baseball Hall of Fame slugger Babe Ruth hits 19th & 20th homers of MLB season record 60 HRs in New York's 6-4 win over Cleveland Indians at Yankees Stadium