Jeff Gordon Wins 1st Dayton 500

February 16, 1997, 25-year-old Jeff Gordon claims his first Daytona 500 victory, becoming the youngest winner in the history of the 200-lap, 500-mile National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) event, dubbed the “Super Bowl of stock car racing.” Driving his No. 24 Chevrolet Monte Carlo for the Hendrick Motorsports racing team, Gordon recorded an average speed of 148.295 mph and took home prize money of more than $377,000. According to NASCAR.com, Gordon was “a veritable babe in a field that included 27 drivers older than 35, 16 at least 40.” Gordon’s Hendrick teammates Terry Labonte and Ricky Craven finished the race second and third, respectively.

1991 Diehard 500 (July 28th 1991)

July 28th 1991

Dale Earnhardt holds off Bill Elliott to win the Die Hard 500 at Talladega SuperSpeedway.

This was the 51st win for "The Intimidator" 

Sports Illustrated Cover of the Week

April 21st 1997

April 13th 1997 - Tiger Woods at 21 yrs old wins the Masters Tournament 

This was the 1st of his four wins at the prestigious Augusta Country Club.

Sports Illustrated Cover of the Week (10/23/2015)

October 23rd 1993

Joe Carter wins the World Series for the Toronto Blue Jays with a home run off of Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Mitch Williams.  Carter became only the 2nd player to end a World Series with a home run. 

Today in Sports History (September 22nd)

September 22nd 1969

Willie Mays hits his 600th career home run. 

At the time joined Babe Ruth as the only 2 players in major league baseball history with 600 or more home runs.

He made history against the San Diego Padres

Here is the radio call of that historic home run:

Cal Ripken Jr. Today in Sports History (September 6th)

September 6th 1995

Baltimore, Maryland

Cal Ripken, Jr. of the the Baltimore Orioles broke one of baseball's legendary records and one that few believed would ever be broken.  He started in his 2,131 consecutive major league baseball game thus breaking Lou Gehrig's hallowed record.

Cal began his streak of consecutive games played on May 30th 1982 and he would not miss a start for 17 consecutive years (all with the Baltimore Orioles).  In the process Cal would be Rookie of the Year in 1982 and American League MVP twice. 1983 and 1991.   He would go on to play in in 2,632 games in row before voluntarily removing himself from the Orioles lineup on September 19th 1998.

Ripken retired after the 2001 season holding the lifetime record for home runs by a shortstop (345).  He was named MLB All Star Game MVP 2 times, 1991 and his last All Star game in 2001, where he hit a solo home run in his first plate appearance.

In 2007 he was elected to baseball's Hall of Fame where a record crowd of 75,000 fans welcomed him and San Diego Padres legend Tony Gwynn into baseball immortality.

Today in Sports History - August 27th

August 27th 1982

Rickey Henderson of the Oakland A's breaks Lou Brock's record for most stolen bases during a season by stealing #119 against the Milwaukee Brewers in County Stadium, Milwaukee WI.

Rickey would go on to set the record for most stolen bases in a season at 130, which has not and probably will not be challenged.

(Tim Raines led the NL in stolen bases in 1982 with 78)

In 1991 Rickey would again pass Lou Brock for another stolen base record, this time for the career number of stolen bases with his 939rd theft.  His career total for stolen bases is 1406.