As May fades away into June, Major League Baseball becomes more intense as the season progresses, while the National Basketball Association inches toward the championship round. In the National Hockey League, the Stanley Cup Finals roll around. June 1 is a day that combines some of the most notable individual performances in sports history with championship play across multiple leagues.
Record-Setting and Remarkable Individual Performances
- 1917: Boston Braves catcher and first baseman Hank Gowdy enlisted in the armed forces to fight in World War I. He was the only professional baseball player to fight in World War I and World War II.
- 1925: Lou Gehrig made a pinch-hit appearance for the New York Yankees, marking the beginning of his streak of appearing in 2,130 straight baseball games.
- 1939: Heavyweights Max Baer and Lou Nova participated in the first major televised boxing match in U.S. history. The fight took place at Yankee Stadium in New York, with Nova scoring an 11th-round knockout.
- 1975: Legendary California Angels starting pitcher Nolan Ryan tossed his fourth career no-hitter, tying the MLB record at the time. Ryan would go on to throw three more, setting the record for the most no-hitters by any pitcher.
- 1980: In a game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Atlanta Braves, Dodgers first baseman Steve Garvey hit the 7,000th home run in Dodgers franchise history. The Braves won the game 9-5.
- 1994: Indiana Pacers legend Reggie Miller scored 39 points in a 93-86 win over the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals.
- 2002: Heavyweight boxing legend Evander Holyfield fought Hasim Rahman in Atlantic City. Holyfield dominated the fight, eventually stopping Rahman with a technical knockout victory in the eighth round.
- 2019: In another heavyweight classic, Andy Ruiz Jr. fought Anthony Joshua with the International Boxing Federation, World Boxing Organization, World Boxing Association, and International Boxing Organization titles on the line. Despite entering the fight as a massive underdog, Ruiz Jr. scored a thunderous knockout in the seventh round.
A Couple of Title Victories
- 1979: The Seattle SuperSonics became NBA champions when they defeated the Washington Bullets 97-93 in the fifth game of the series.
- 1992: The Pittsburgh Penguins triumphed over the Chicago Blackhawks 6-5 to complete a sweep in the Stanley Cup Finals. It was Pittsburgh’s second straight title.
- 2019: English teams Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur faced off in the Union of European Football Associations Champions League final. Liverpool won 2-0 for the club’s sixth Champions League title.
It’s hard to point out which incredible achievements and victories stand out the most on June 1, but one that’s hard to gloss over is Andy Ruiz Jr.’s upset victory over Anthony Joshua. Since Ruiz Jr. entered the fight as an underdog, it was one of the biggest upsets in a title fight in boxing history.
