Sports Fact of the Day 9/1-9/3/2008

Sept. 1:
9/1/1968:
Denny McLain hurls a complete game seven-hitter and catches a line drive to start a triple play to lead the Detroit Tigers to a 7-3 victory over Baltimore. With the Orioles threatening in the third inning, McLain spears a hot shot from Boog Powell and commences a 1-6-3 triple play, catching Curt Blefary and Frank Robinson on the baselines. The win is McLain's 27th-he'll finish at 31-6, the first pitcher to record 30 wins in a season since Dizzy Dean for the Cardinals in 1934.

Birthdays:
Rocky marciano b. 1923
Guy Rudogers b. 1935
Tim Hardaway b. 1966
Cuttino Mobley b. 1974
Clinton Portis b. 1981

1946:
Patty Berg, a founding member of the Ladies Profewssional Golfers Association, defeated Betty Jameson in match play, 5 and 4, to win the inaugural Women's Open championship.

"Here is a puffy little gnome of a woman who trudges the fairway looking more like a resolute middle-aged housewife on her way to YWCA calisthenics class than she does a remarkable athlete. But when Patty Berg grasps a golf club, the butterfly emerges from the cocoon." -Betty Hicks, July 23, 1956

Packers Fact:
The most famous play in Vince Lombardi's offense was the "Packers Sweep," in which backs Paul Hornung or Jim Taylor followed pulling guards Jerry Kramer or Fuzzy Thurston.

Sept. 2:
Handling the commentary on another excruciatingly long American League baseball game, with its time dynamic markedly changed by the creation of the designated hitter rule, telecaster Jim Kaat remarked: "Our trivia question could easily be 'Who were the starting pitchers in today's game?'"

Birthdays:
Marv Throneberry b. 1933
Terry Bradshaw b. 1948
Jimmy Connors b. 1952
Eric Dickerson b. 1960
Lennox Lewis b. 1965

1907:
Ty Cobb made baseball history by stealing second base, third base, and home in the same game.

"He didn't file his spikes to razor sharpness and he didn't go out of his way to spike opponents, but he was a hard, harsh base runner who believed passionately, almost fanatically, that "the base path was mine." -Robert Creamer, August 19, 1985

Packers Fact:
Darick Holmes was the leading rusher for the 1998 Packers' team that won 11 games and earned a wild-card playoff berth. He had a modest total of 386 yards.

Sept. 3:
9/3/1991:
An arbitrator's ruling has an enormously positive effect on the fate and fortune of the New Jersey Devils when premier defenseman Scott Stevens is awarded to the club from St. Louis as compensation for the Blues' free agent signing of Brendan Shanahan from the Devils earlier this summer. Stevens will play 13 seasons with the Devils before retiring because of a concussion. His physical style and punishing open-ice checks establish a defensive benchmark for the Devils as they win three Stanley Cups and just miss a fourth during his stay with the club.

Birthdays:
Eddie Stanky b. 1916
Bennie Blades b. 1966
Luis Gonzalez b. 1967
Damon Stoudamire b. 1973
Jevon Kearse b. 1976

1977:
The great Japanese League slugger Sadaharu Oh smacked his 756th career home run and surpassed Hank Aaron as professional baseball's alltime home run king. Oh retired in 1980 with 868 homers.

"Oh connected with the sixth pitch in the bottom of the third against the Yakult Swallows, and the ball arced into the rightfield bleachers 328 feet away. The 55,000 fans leaped to their feet roaring "Banzai!" and milions at home watching on TV shouted "Yatta, yatta!" - he did it." -Robert H. Boyle, September 12, 1977

Packers Fact:
Upon taking over the Packers in 1959, Vince Lombardi immediately revamped the club's uniforms, settling on the design that remains for the most part to this day.