Golden State Warriors southpaw sharpshooter Chris Mullin had five consecutive seasons where he averaged over 25 points per game. (‘88-89 - ’92-93) Those were also the only 5 seasons of his 16 year career that Chris was selected to the All-Star Squad. Happy Birthday Chris!
The expansion Carolina Panthers & Jacksonville Jaguars each saw their first action as NFL franchises when they met in the Hall of Fame Game back on July 29th, 1995. Former Heisman Trophy winner, and expansion draft selection, Desmond Howard scored the first touchdown for the Jags on a 66 yard punt return in the first quarter. Panther fullback Bob Christian pulled in a 16 yard pass from Quarterback Frank Reich and rumbled into the end zone for the Panthers first TD. We saw a back and forth battle between the fresh franchises with Carolina eventually pulling out a 20-14 victory after holding Jacksonville scoreless in the 4th quarter.
Remember when Pitcher Anthony Young finally was able see a big W next to his name in the boxscore after 27 straight L’s? Hard to blame him for all the losses though, when the Mets were pretty miserable in ‘92 & ‘93, losing 193 games over those seasons. Young had a 4.36 e.r.a with 16 saves and four holds over the span of his 77 appearances between May of ‘92 and July of ‘93, but getting that elusive win just wasn’t working out for Anthony. That first win would come on July 28th, 1993 when as a reliever he was awarded the W after Eddie Murray hit a walk-off double in the bottom of the ninth to give the Mets a 5-4 win over the Florida Marlins. R.I.P. Anthony
Flashing back on this Friday to July 26th, 1991 when Montreal Expos pitcher Mark Gardner was cruising in L.A. with a No-Hitter for Nine Innings against the Dodgers. Things got off track in the top of the 10th though as Mark gave up 3 hits, and had to take a 1-0 loss for all his effort. Oh well. Happy Friday Dudes !!
Did you know that way back in the 1976 season, Quarterback Steve Grogan had 12 rushing touchdowns? That record would stand for 35 years until Cam Newton scored 14 in 2011.
I mostly remember Antoine ‘Big Dawg’ Carr when he was the 6th man for the Utah Jazz, rocking the orange tinted shades, as they battled the Chicago Bulls in the ‘97 & ‘98 NBA Finals. Amongst his sixteen seasons in the league there was one season that stood out from the rest. Well, scoring wise at least. As a member of the 1990-91 Sacramento Kings, Antoine averaged 20.1 ppg while scoring over 1,500 points.In fact he never had over 1,000 points in any other season during his career. Happy Belated B-day Big Dawg!!
Safety Eddie Anderson owns the record for the longest interception return in Raiders history . In December of 1992 as a member of the L.A. Raiders, Eddie picked off a Dan Marino pass and returned it 102 yards for a touchdown in the 4th quarter of a 20-7 Raiders loss on Monday Night Football. Happy Birthday Eddie !!
Taking it back to July 22nd, 1997 when Pitcher Greg Maddux threw a complete game 4-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs in only 76 pitches!! He gave up just five hits, with no walks. In fact he only threw 13 balls the entire game. There is even a stat named after Greg called ‘The Maddux’ for when a pitcher has a complete game under 100 pitches. Greg had 13 of them over his career. Happy Monday Dudes!!
Henry Ellard had seven 1,000 yard receiving seasons over his career. 4X in a row with the Los Angeles Rams (‘88-’91) & three straight (‘94-’96) with the Washington Redskins. Happy Birthday Henry!
Before he was leaping in Lambeau for the Green Bay Packers, Leroy Butler is most well known in Florida State lore for a trick play he was a part of back in 1988 on a sloppy field in September. The 10th ranked Seminoles were at Memorial Stadium aka ‘Death Valley’ taking on the 3rd ranked Clemson Tigers. It was the first game in Death Valley history where the Tigers & their opponent were both ranked in the top ten. With the score 21-21 & just 1:33 left in the game, Coach Bobby Bowden dug deep into his playbook and pulled out the aptly titled ‘Puntrooskie.’ A top secret play the Noles had been working on. Backed up at their own 21 yard line, facing a 4th & 4, FSU lined up to punt it away. Wink wink. Instead, the ball was snapped to upback Dayne Williams who then took a step forward and handed the ball off between Leroy Butler’s legs. Butler stayed still for a second, allowing the defenders to follow the fake, and then suddenly he was taking off down the left side of the field, finally being run out of bounds at the four yard line. FSU converted a field goal, to pull out the victory 24-21. Who fakes a punt at their own 21??
Remember back in 1994 when the New York Jets brought in US World Cup Goalkeeper Tony Meola to handle kickoff duties? The NFL was moving the kickoff from the 35 to the 30 yard line, and they weren’t sure the leg of their other offseason acquisition, 38 year old Nick Lowery, would produce touchbacks consistently. Nicknamed ‘Captain Hook’ for his less than accurate field goal attempts; Tony was cut after the 3rd pre-season game, and returned to soccer. Operation: ‘Ponytail Place Kicker’ was over.
It was back on July 17th, 1990 that the dynamic dual sport duo of Bo Jackson & Deion Sanders met for the fifth and final time on the baseball diamond. Bo started off the festivities with a homer to centerfield in the top of the 1st, just passed the outstretched glove of Deion as he scaled the wall. Bo would homer two more times in the 3rd & 5th innings. His shot to right center in the 3rd measured in at 464 ft.
‘Neon Deion’ got in on the homerun theme himself with one of the inside the park variety. In the bottom of the 6th, Bo made a diving attempt at Deion’s liner to center, just missing it, allowing Sanders to round the bases, ultimately leaping over the Royals Cather Mike MacFarlane at the plate to score. It was the first inside the park homer for the Yankees franchise since 1984. Unfortunately Jackson hurt his shoulder on the dive, and would miss the next month of baseball. Both teams went on to have pretty bummer years with the Royals finishing at 75-86 and the Yankees faring even worse with a 67-95 record.
On July 17th, 1990 the Minnesota Twins, in a game against the Boston Red Sox, became the first & last team to turn two triple plays in one game. Both were sharply hit grounders to 3B Gary Gaetti who quickly tagged 3rd base and threw to 2b Al Newman who sent a strong throw to 1B Kent Hrbek to complete the 5-4-3 triple play. Unfortunately all the good fortune was in the infield that night, as the Twins failed to score a run, & lost 1-0 to the Sox. Random Stat of the Day - Gary Gaetti was apart of seven triple plays in his 20 year MLB career.
Did you know Jeff. Uhh… I mean Terry Pendleton’s team went to the World Series 5 times over his 15 year MLB career? Unfortunately he & his squad were on the losing end each time. He made it all the way twice with the St. Louis Cardinals in ‘85 & ‘87 and three times with the Atlanta Braves of the 90’s. He was away with the Florida Marlins for the 1995 season when the Braves got the monkey off their back and won the crown over the Cleveland Indians. He would be traded back to Atlanta late in the ‘96 season but the Braves would come up short again against the powerhouse Yankees. Oh well. Happy Birthday Terry!
It was back on July 14th, 1995, in a 7-0 victory against the Florida Marlins, that pitcher Ramon Martinez threw the 22nd No-Hitter in Dodgers history. Ramon just missed pitching a perfect game that night, only giving up one walk in the bottom of the eighth inning. Just a month prior, his younger brother Pedro had a perfect game of his own broken up in the bottom of the 10th inning. How cool would that have been? Brothers with Perfect Games.
The New York Knicks selected hometown point guard Rod Strickland with the 19th pick in the 1988 NBA Draft. Many saw it as a confusing pick because they already had Mark Jackson at Point Guard who was reigning NBA Rookie of the Year. Rod teamed up well with Jackson but, only played a season and a half with the Knicks before they traded him to the San Antonio Spurs for Hall of Famer Maurice Cheeks. Happy Birthday Rod!
