It’s easy to see why April is not regarded as much of a sports month. There’s no Super Bowl, no NBA Finals, and no World Series, and it’s devoid of the nation’s most popular sport: American Football. Despite these factors, April 23 marks the anniversary of many memorable moments in sports history, particularly from the NBA and the MLB.
Unforgettable Games and Remarkable Records
- 1903: The New York Highlanders, now known as the New York Yankees, won their first MLB game.
- 1950: The Minneapolis Lakers established themselves as a dominating force in the NBA by defeating the Syracuse Nationals in six games to secure their second straight title.
- 1954: Right fielder Hank Aaron, then a member of the Milwaukee Braves, hit his first career home run. Aaron would go on to hit 754 more on his way to becoming an MLB Hall of Famer.
- 1989: Legendary center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played his final game for the Los Angeles Lakers before hanging up his boots on one of the finest careers in the history of the NBA.
- 1989: As Abdul-Jabbar played his final game in the NBA, the Dallas Cowboys were making a franchise-altering decision with the first overall pick in the NFL Draft. That pick was spent on quarterback Troy Aikman, who would become one of the best quarterbacks in Cowboys history.
- 1993: During a game between the Orlando Magic and the New Jersey Nets, Shaquille O’Neal ripped down the backboard on New Jersey’s home court as the Magic secured a 119-116 victory.
- 1999: St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Fernando Tatis (father of current San Diego Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr.) became the first player in MLB history to hit two grand slams in a single inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
- 2005: The San Francisco 49ers decided to pick quarterback Alex Smith instead of hometown hero Aaron Rodgers in the first pick of the NFL Draft.
- 2019: The Portland Trail Blazers closed out the series against the Oklahoma City Thunder with the help of point guard Damian Lillard’s 50-point game. Lillard sank a three-pointer in the final seconds to send the Blazers to the second round of the playoffs.
- 2020: After an abysmal season, the Cincinnati Bengals selected quarterback Joe Burrow with the first overall pick in the NFL Draft. Burrow led Cincinnati to a Super Bowl berth in 2022.
Surprisingly, April 23 has hosted some widely recognized sports moments in basketball and baseball. O’Neal tearing down the backboard in the first quarter of an NBA game is one of the legend’s signature highlights, while Tatis’s multiple grand slams in an inning is a feat that’s unlikely to be matched in the foreseeable future. Add Lillard’s series-winning deep three and two franchise-changing NFL Draft choices, and April 23 is cemented as a remarkable day in sports history.
