This Day in Sports History: July 22
July brings a range of big sporting events: Major League Baseball, NBA Summer League games, the British Grand Prix, Tour de France, NASCAR races, Golf tournaments, the MLB All-Star game,…
July brings a range of big sporting events: Major League Baseball, NBA Summer League games, the British Grand Prix, Tour de France, NASCAR races, Golf tournaments, the MLB All-Star game, Wimbledon, track and field events, and more. Here, you can discover some of the notable moments from sports legends.
Unforgettable Games and Remarkable Records
Great moments in sports history that have occurred on July 22 include:
- 1912: The Summer Olympic Games came to an end in Stockholm, Sweden.
- 1921: Jim Barnes won the US Men's Open for Golf, which was the third of his four major titles.
- 1923: Henri Pélissier won the Tour de France.
- 1923: Walter Johnson got the 3,000th strikeout of his MLB career, becoming the first pitcher to do so.
- 1926: Curt Walker got two triples in an inning.
- 1936: Johnny Moore hit three straight home runs in a game.
- 1962: Floyd Robinson went 6 for 6 in an MLB game, and all the hits were singles.
- 1962: Gary Player won the PGA Championship by one stroke.
- 1963: For the second time, Sonny Liston knocked out Floyd Patterson. Liston retained the world heavyweight boxing title.
- 1972: Eddy Merckx got his fourth straight general classification title.
- 1973: Susie Maxwell Berning won the US Open Women's Golf title — her third National title.
- 1984: Czechoslovakia beat Australia to win the Federation Cup for women's tennis.
- 1984: Seve Ballesteros won the British Golf Open, which was his second of three Open titles.
- 1993: Don Mattingly hit his 200th career home run.
- 1997: Greg Maddux got a complete game on just 78 pitches thrown.
- 2001: David Duval won the British Golf Open — his only major title victory.
- 2007: Pádraig Harrington won the British Open for Men's Golf. This was his first major championship.
- 2012: Ernie Els won the British Golf Open for the second time.
- 2012: Bradley Wiggins won the 99th annual Tour de France.
- 2013: Mike Babcock was once again named the head coach for Team Canada for the 2014 Winter Olympics. The hockey team would go on to repeat as gold medal winners.
- 2017: Branden Grace got the lowest round score ever at a Men's Major Championship in Golf. He shot a 62 in the third round of the British Open.
- 2018: Sue Bird played her 500th WNBA game.
Looking back on the events of July 22, the athletes that stand out are Walter Johnson, Eddy Merckx, and Sue Bird.
Johnson was known for his powerful fastball and exceptional control. His 417 career wins are second only to Cy Young, and his 110 shutouts remain an MLB record. Merckx is famous for his exceptional achievements in both road and track cycling, including winning the Tour de France five times, the Giro d'Italia five times, and the Vuelta a España once. Bird is a five-time Olympic gold medalist and four-time WNBA champion. She also co-founded a media company called TOGETHXR.
