July 11
1914 — Babe Ruth makes his major league pitching debut for the Boston Red Sox against Cleveland, getting the 4-3 victory over the Indians.
1950 — Red Schoendienst hits a home run in the 14th inning to give the NL a 4-3 victory in the All-Star game.
1967 — Tony Perez homers in the 15th inning off Catfish Hunter to give the National League a 2-1 win in the longest game in All-Star history.
1979 — Renaldo Nehemiah of the United States sets a Pan American Games record in the 110 hurdles with a time of 13.20 seconds.
1981 — Britain’s Sebastian Coe breaks his own world record in the 1,000-meter run with a time of 2:12.18 in a meet in Oslo, Norway. Seven runners shatter the 3-minute, 51-second barrier in the mile led by Steve Ovett at 3:49.25. Steve Scott finishes third and sets an American record in 3:49.68.
1982 — FIFA World Cup Final, Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid, Spain: Italy beats West Germany, 3-1 in front of 90,000.
1985 — Nolan Ryan of the Houston Astros becomes the first pitcher in major league history to reach 4,000 strikeouts when he fans New York’s Danny Heep in the sixth inning.
1992 — Treboh Joe, a 9-year-old gelding, makes harness racing history by losing his 162nd consecutive race. Treboh Joe finishes fourth to break the North American record of 161 straight losses held by Shiaway Moses.
1993 — Alain Prost gets his 50th Formula One victory by taking the British Grand Prix.
1995 — Maryland quarterback Scott Milanovich, the most prolific passer in school history, is suspended for eight games by the NCAA for gambling on college sports.
2008 — Spanish cyclist Manuel Beltran tests positive for the performance-enhancer EPO and is immediately kicked out of the Tour de France and suspended by his team, Liquigas.
2010 — FIFA World Cup Final, Soccer City, Johannesburg, South Africa: Andrés Iniesta scores an extra time winner as Spain beats the Netherlands, 1-0 for first World Cup title.
2011 — So Yeon Ryu wins the U.S. Women’s Open, defeating Hee Kyung Seo by three shots in a three-hole playoff. Ryu becomes the fifth South Korean to win the Open and the fourth in the last seven years.
2012 — Future Basketball Hall of Fame guard Steve Nash is traded by the Phoenix Suns to the Los Angeles Lakers.
2015 — Serena Williams wins her sixth title at the All England Club, beating Garbine Muguruza of Spain 6-4, 6-4 in the women’s final. For Williams, it’s her second “Serena Slam” — holding all four major titles at the same time. Overall, it’s the 21st major title for Williams, one shy of Graf’s Open era record.
2017 — Venus Williams reaches the semifinals at Wimbledon for the 10th time. The five-time champion at the All England Club advances by beating Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 7-5 under a closed roof on Centre Court.
2021 — Novak Dokovic beats Matteo Berrettini of Italy, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3, to win the Wimbledon Title. The win is Dokovic’s 20th Grand Slam title.
2021 — UEFA European Championship Final, Wembley Stadium, London: Italy wins first Euro title since 1968, 3-2 on penalties over England after scores locked at 1-1 AET.
2021 — Copa América Final, Estádio do Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro: Argentina beats Brazil, 1-0; Lionel Messi named player of the tournament in his first major international title victory.
_____
July 12
1901 — Cy Young of the Boston Red Sox wins his 300th game with a 5-3 victory over the Philadelphia A’s.
1930 — Bobby Jones wins the U.S. Open. Jones, who also won the British Open, the American Amateur and the British Amateur, becomes the only golfer to take all four events in the same year.
1954 — The Major League Baseball Players Association is founded.
1964 — Mickey Wright wins the U.S. Women’s Open for the fourth time by defeating Ruth Jessen by two strokes in a playoff.
1970 — Jack Nicklaus wins his second British Open, beating Doug Sanders by one stroke in an 18-hole playoff at the Old Course in St Andrews, Scotland. It’s the first playoff at The Open since 1963 and the first at 18 holes.
1975 — Tom Watson wins an 18-hole playoff by one stroke over Jack Newton to win the British Open at Carnoustie Golf Links in Scotland.
1980 — Mary Decker has her fourth record-setting performance of the year, setting an American mark in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:01.17 at an international meet at Stuttgart.
1995 — Noureddine Morceli of Algeria shatters his world record for 1,500 meters at the Nikaia Grand Prix in Nice, France, with a time of 3:27.37. It is the second world record for Morceli in 10 days.
1996 — Michael Jordan signs a NBA contract with the Chicago Bulls, for 1 year for $30.1 million.
1996 — Kirby Puckett, MLB centerfielder, retires after 12 seasons from Minnesota Twins, due to loss of vision in one eye.
1998 — France wins soccer’s World Cup, beating heavily favored Brazil 3-0 in the championship match.
1999 — The U.S. men’s basketball team wins its sixth straight World University Games gold medal and 40th straight game — both records — by routing Yugoslavia 79-65 in the final.
2012 — Every country competing at the London Games includes female athletes for the first time in Olympic history after Saudi Arabia agreed to send two women to compete in judo and track and field.
2014 — Mario Goetze volleys in the winning goal in extra time to give Germany its fourth World Cup title with a 1-0 victory over Argentina. The win is Germany’s first as a united country. West Germany won the World Cup in 1954, 1974 and 1990.
2015 — Novak Djokovic gets the better of Roger Federer at Wimbledon, beating him in four sets to win his third Wimbledon title and ninth Grand Slam championship.
2015 — South Korea’s In Gee Chun birdies four of the last seven holes to rally for a one-stroke victory at the U.S. Women’s Open. The 20-year old Chun shoots a 4-under 66 in the final round and finished at 8 under, becoming the first player to win her U.S. Open debut since Birdie Kim in 2005.
2017 — Sam Querrey stuns top-seeded Andy Murray in five sets in the Wimbledon quarterfinals, 3-6, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-1, 6-1.
_____
July 13
1881 — William Renshaw sets the record for the shortest men’s championship match by time and games by beating John T. Hartley 6-0, 6-1, 6-1 in 37 minutes at Wimbledon.
1934 — Babe Ruth hits his 700th career home run against Detroit.
1941 — The PGA tournament is won by Vic Ghezzi with a 1-up 38-hole victory over Byron Nelson. at Cherry Hills CC Denver
1943 — The first night game in All-Star history is played at Philadelphia’s Shibe Park. Boston’s Bobby Doerr provides the big blow, a three-run homer, for the AL’s 5-3 win.
1963 — Early Wynn wins his 300th and last MLB game at 43.
1968 — Gary Player wins the British Open by two strokes over Bob Charles and Jack Nicklaus. It’s the second Open championship for Player and his fifth major title.
1971 — Reggie Jackson hits a mammoth home run off the power generator on the right-field roof at Tiger Stadium to highlight a barrage of six homers — three by each team — as the AL beats the NL 6-4 in the All-Star game.
1972 — Robert Irsay buys the stock of the Los Angeles Rams for $19 million and swaps the franchise for the Baltimore Colts. The players and coaches are not affected.
1980 — Amy Alcott shoots a record score of 280 to win the U.S. Women’s Open by nine strokes over Hollis Stacy.
1994 — Tonya Harding’s ex-husband Jeff Gillooly sentenced to 2 years in prison for attack on American Olympic figure skater Nancy Kerrigan.
1996 — Cigar matches Citation’s modern North American record of 16 consecutive wins, pulling away to take the $1.05 million Arlington Citation Challenge by 3½ lengths.
1997 — Alison Nicholas holds off Nancy Lopez for a one-stroke victory in the U.S. Women’s Open. Nicholas shoots a 72-hole total of 10-under 274, the most under par in the 52-year history of the event.
2003 — Beth Daniel becomes the oldest winner in LPGA Tour history, birdying the final two holes to beat Juli Inkster by a stroke in the Canadian Women’s Open. At 46 years, 8 months and 29 days, Daniel breaks the age record set by JoAnne Carner in 1985.
2011 — Abby Wambach breaks a tense tie with a thunderous header in the 79th minute, and the United States earns its first trip to the Women’s World Cup final since winning it in 1999 with a 3-1 victory over France. Japan upsets Sweden 3-1 in the other semifinal.
2014 — Mo Martin hits the best shot of her life to become a major champion in the Women’s British Open. Martin hit a 3-wood that hit the pin on the par-5 closing hole at Royal Birkdale, settling 6 feet for an eagle. Martin closes with an even-par 72 and finishes at 1-under 287 for a one-shot win over Inbee Park and Shanshan Feng.
2014 — Mario Goetze volleys in the winning goal in extra time to give Germany its fourth World Cup title with a 1-0 victory over Argentina.
2017 — Venus Williams reaches her ninth Wimbledon final and first since 2009, turning in her latest display of gutsy serving to beat Johanna Konta 6-4, 6-2. At 37, Williams becomes the oldest finalist at the All England Club since Martina Navratilova was the 1994 runner-up at that age. She also stops Konta’s bid to become the first woman from Britain in 40 years to win Wimbledon. In the opening semifinal, Garbine Muguruza overwhelms Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia 6-1, 6-1 in just over an hour.
2019 — Wimbledon Women’s Tennis: Simona Halep beats Serena Williams 6-2, 6-2 in just 55 minutes; first Romanian to win a Wimbledon singles title.
_____
Copyright © 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
