April 30
1922 — Charlie Robertson of the Chicago White Sox pitches a 2-0 perfect game against the Detroit Tigers.
1939 — Lou Gehrig sets a MLB record playing his 2,130th consecutive and final game for the New York Yankees.
1958 — Ted Williams is 10th major league player to get 1,000 extra-base hits.
1961 — Willie Mays of the San Francisco Giants hits four home runs in a 14-4 victory over the Braves in Milwaukee.
1961 — LPGA Titleholders Championship Women’s Golf, Augusta CC: Mickey Wright wins her 5th major title by 1 stroke from Patty Berg & Louise Suggs.
1962 — LPGA Titleholders Championship Women’s Golf, Augusta CC: Mickey Wright wins her 8th major title in a playoff with Ruth Jessen.
1971 — The Milwaukee Bucks become the second team to register a four-game sweep in the NBA championship, beating the Baltimore Bullets 118-106.
1975 — Larry O’Brien is named the NBA’s third commissioner, following J. Walter Kennedy (1963-75) and Maurice Podoloff (1946-63). O’Brien holds the position until 1984.
1976 — Muhammad Ali wins a unanimous 15-round decision over Jimmy Young in Landover, Md., to retain his world heavyweight title.
1985 — NFL Draft: Virginia Tech defensive end Bruce Smith first pick by Buffalo Bills.
1987 — NY Islander Mike Bossy plays his final game.
1989 — U.S. beats Costa Rica 1-0, in 3rd round of 1990 world soccer cup.
1992 — The Red Wings and Canucks become the ninth and 10th teams in NHL history to rebound from 3-1 deficits to win playoff series. Detroit beats the Minnesota North Stars 5-2 in the Norris Division, while Vancouver defeats the Winnipeg Jets 5-0 in the Smythe Division.
1993 — Top-ranked Monica Seles is stabbed during a changeover in Hamburg, Germany. Guenter Parche, 38, reaches over a courtside railing and knifes Seles in the back. She has an inch-deep slit between her shoulder blades and missed the remainder of the 1993 season.
2005 — James Toney outpoints John Ruiz to win the WBA heavyweight title in New York. Toney, a former champion at three other weights, wins his third heavyweight bout, becoming the third one-time middleweight champion to take boxing’s top crown.
2010 — Tiger Woods matches the worst nine-hole score of his PGA Tour career and winds up with a 7-over 79 to miss the cut at the Quail Hollow Championship. Woods finishes at 9-over 153, the highest 36-hole total of his career. It’s the sixth time in his 14-year career he misses a cut.
2012 — Manchester City defeat Manchester United 1-0 in what is claimed to be the biggest match in the English Premier League’s history.
2014 — Anze Kopitar scores the tiebreaking goal late in the second period and Jonathan Quick makes 39 saves to cap the Los Angeles Kings’ comeback from three games down with a 5-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks in Game 7 of the first rounds. This is the fourth time an NHL team won a best-of-seven series after losing the first three games.
2015 — For the first time in 51 years, the NFL draft returns to Chicago. Florida State’s Jameis Winston is selected by Tampa Bay as the first selection.
2023 — Seattle Kraken become first NHL franchise to earn its first-ever playoff series win against reigning Stanley Cup champion, eliminating Colorado Avalanche in 7 games.
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May 1
1891 — Legendary pitcher Cy Young wins first game played at Cleveland’s League Park.
1920 — Legendary slugger Babe Ruth records his first HR for the New York Yankees.
1920 — Joe Oeschger of the Boston Braves and Leon Cadore of the Brooklyn Dodgers both pitch 26 innings in a 1-1 tie, the longest game in major league history.
1926 — Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Satchel Paige (19) debuts in the Negro Southern League.
1943 — Count Fleet, ridden by Johnny Longden, wins the Kentucky Derby by three lengths over Blue Swords.
1948 — Citation, ridden by Eddie Arcaro, wins the Kentucky Derby by 3½ lengths over Coaltown. It’s Citation’s toughest race in winning the Triple Crown.
1951 — Future Baseball Hall of Fame slugger Mickey Mantle hits first career home run.
1954 — 80th Kentucky Derby: Raymond York wins aboard Determine, his only Derby success.
1955 — American golfer Babe Didrikson-Zaharias wins the Peach Blossom LPGA Tournament in Spartanburg, South Carolina, her final victory before her death the following year.
1959 — Floyd Patterson scores 11th round KO of Englishman Brian London in Indianapolis; his 4th World Heavyweight Boxing title defence.
1965 — The Montreal Canadiens beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-0 in Game 7 to capture the Stanley Cup.
1965 — 91st Kentucky Derby: Bill Shoemaker wins aboard Lucky Debonair, the third of his 4 Derby victories.
1969 — Leonard Tose buys NFL Philadelphia Eagles for a professional sports record $16.15m.
1976 — 102nd Kentucky Derby: Puerto Rican jockey Ángel Cordero Jr. wins aboard Bold Forbes, the second of 3 Derby successes.
1981 — Tennis player Billie Jean King acknowledges a lesbian relationship with Marilyn Barnett – becoming first prominent sportswoman to come out.
1982 — Gato del Sol, ridden by Ed Delahoussaye, comes from last place in a field of 19 to win the Kentucky Derby. Gato del Sol, finishes 2 1/2 lengths ahead of Laser Light, who beat Reinvested by a neck for second. He finishes in 2:02 2/5 and returns $44.40 for a $2 bet. Air Forbes Won, the 5-2 favorite of the crow of 141,009, finishes seventh.
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 — Nolan Ryan pitches his seventh no-hitter in a 3-0 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. Ryan faces 29 batters, striking out 16 and walking two.
1991 — Rickey Henderson of the Oakland Athletics sets a major league record by stealing his 939th base, eclipsing Lou Brock’s career mark.
1992 — The Pittsburgh Penguins become the 11th NHL team to rebound from a 3-1 deficit and win a playoff series after beating the Washington Capitals 3-1.
1992 — Rickey Henderson, baseball’s career stolen base leader, steals his 1,000th base in the first inning of Oakland’s 7-6 win over Detroit.
1993 — Bruce Baumgartner wins his 11th straight national wrestling title by beating Joel Greenlee 6-0 in the 286-pound freestyle division at the U.S. championships in Las Vegas.
2002 — Padres closer Trevor Hoffman sets MLB record for saves for one team (321) in 4-3 win v Chicago Cubs in San Diego.
2003 — The three-time defending champion Lakers beat Minnesota 101-85 to win the series 4-2. It’s the 13th straight playoff series won under Phil Jackson, and Jackson-coached teams have an NBA-record 25 consecutive series wins.
2004 — Smarty Jones splashes his way past Lion Heart in the stretch to win the Kentucky Derby. Smarty Jones runs his record to 7 for 7 and becomes the first unbeaten Derby winner since Seattle Slew in 1977.
2005 — 17-year old Lionel Messi scores his 1st senior league goal for FC Barcelona in 2-0 win against Albacete Balompié, at the Spotify Camp Nou in Barcelona.
2006 — Detroit, winner of the President’s Trophy by leading the league in points (124) this season, is eliminated in the first round for the third time in five postseasons after a 4-3 loss to Edmonton in Game 6.
2008 — Johan Franzen records his second hat trick in three games with three more goals and helps Detroit complete a four-game sweep of Colorado with an e is 8-2 win. He is the first player with two hat tricks in one playoff series since Jari Kurri did it for Edmonton in 1985.
2010 — Jockey Calvin Borel steers Super Saver through the mud to win his third Kentucky Derby in four years, beating Lookin At Lucky by 2 1/2 lengths. The win ends trainer Todd Pletcher’s Derby drought. Pletcher, who had four horses in the race, came into the race 0 for 24 since 2000.
2019 — Argentine forward Lionel Messi scores twice for his 600th goal for FC Barcelona in a 3-0 home win over Liverpool in a Champions League semifinal.
2021 — 147th Kentucky Derby: Medina Spirit gives jockey John Velazquez his fourth Derby win and trainer Bob Baffert a record seventh victory in the race.
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May 2
1903 — 29th Kentucky Derby: Hal Booker riding Judge Himes wins in 2:09.
1904 — Laska Durnell becomes the first woman to own a Kentucky Derby starter and winner when longshot Elwood wins the 30th Run for the Roses. Elwood is also the first Derby winner whose breeder is a woman, Mrs. J.B. Prather.
1906 — 32nd Kentucky Derby: Roscoe Troxler aboard Sir Huon wins in 2:08.8.
1917 — Fred Toney of the Cincinnati Reds and James “Hippo” Vaughn of the Chicago Cubs pitch a double no-hitter for nine innings, but the Reds win 1-0 with two hits in the 10th.
1939 — Lou Gehrig of the New York Yankees does not play against the Detroit Tigers at Briggs Stadium, ending his streak of 2,130 consecutive games played.
1953 — Dark Star, a 25-1 longshot, wins the Kentucky Derby, beating 7-10 favorite Native Dancer by a head. It’s Native Dancer’s first defeat after 11 straight wins and the only defeat in 22 career starts.
1964 — Northern Dancer, ridden by Bill Hartack, wins the Kentucky Derby by a neck over Hill Rise in a race record 2:00.
1967 — The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Montreal Canadiens 3-1 to win the Stanley Cup in six games.
1968 — 22nd NBA Championship: Boston Celtics beat LA Lakers, 4 games to 2.
1970 — Diane Crump becomes the first female jockey to ride in the Kentucky Derby. Her mount, Fathom, finishes 15th in a field of 17. Dust Commander, with Mike Manganello aboard, wins the race.
1978 — 1978 NFL Draft: Earl Campbell from University of Texas first pick by Houston Oilers.
1999 — John Elway announces his retirement from the NFL.
2001 — James Hylton, a construction worker from Keizer, Ore., bowls the fifth perfect 900 series in the 106-year history of the sport.
2002 — Mike Cameron hits four homers and comes close to a record-setting fifth in leading the Seattle Mariners to a 15-4 victory over the Chicago White Sox. Cameron and Bret Boone become the first teammates to hit two home runs in the same inning.
2002 — Patrick Lalime becomes the 14th goalie in NHL history to record four shutouts in one postseason with his 27-save performance in Ottawa’s 5-0 defeat of Toronto.
2009 — Mine That Bird, a 50-1 shot ridden by Calvin Borel, wins the Kentucky Derby with a dynamic stretch run through the mud. Borel finds room along the rail and pulls away in one of the biggest upsets in the 135-year history of the race.
2010 — Ryo Ishikawa shoots a 12-under 58 — the lowest score on a major tour — to win The Crowns in Togo, Japan. The 18-year-old Ishikawa has 12 birdies in his bogey-free round on the 6,545-yard Nagoya Golf Club course.
2010 — Cleveland’s LeBron James becomes the 10th player in NBA history to win consecutive MVP awards.
2012 — Barcelona football player Lionel Messi breaks the European goal-scoring record with 68 goals.
2015 — American Pharoah rallies in the stretch to beat Firing Line by a length for trainer Bob Baffert’s first Kentucky Derby victory since 2002. Sent off as the 5-2 favorite by the record crowd of 170,513, American Pharoah is ridden by Victor Espinoza.
2015 — Floyd Mayweather Jr. uses his reach and his jab to frustrate Manny Pacquiao for a unanimous decision in their welterweight title bout. Mayweather remains unbeaten in 48 fights, cementing his legacy as the best of his generation.
2016 — Leicester City win the English Premier League title after starting the season at 5,000-1 odds.
2017 — Isaiah Thomas scores 53 points — the second-highest total in Celtics playoff history — to help Boston beat the Washington Wizards 129-119 in overtime and take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals.
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