This Day in Sports History: September 15

Sports in September are all about MLB, the start of the NFL and college football seasons, UFC, the Ryder Cup, and Formula 1. Over the years, Sept. 15 has witnessed notable moments and stories from sporting legends. Here’s a closer look at some of them.

Unforgettable Games and Remarkable Records

Great moments in sports history from Sept. 15 included:

• 1870: Tom Morris Jr. won the British Open for men’s golf, his third straight title.
• 1899: Willie Smith won the U.S. Open for men’s golf by 11 strokes.
• 1912: Red Sox pitcher Joe Wood got his 16th straight win.
• 1921: Babe Ruth hit his 55th home run of the season, breaking his own single-season MLB record set the year prior.
• 1922: Butch Henline became the first National Leaguer to hit three home runs in a game.
• 1923: Bill Tilden won the U.S. National Championship for men’s tennis, his fourth of six straight U.S. singles titles.
• 1928: The St. Louis Cardinals set an NL record by leaving 18 men on base but still beat the Phillies 8-6.
• 1938: Lloyd and Paul Waner became the first and only brothers to hit back-to-back homers.
• 1947: The New York Yankees won their 15th pennant.
• 1950: Johnny Mize hit three home runs in one game, the sixth time that he accomplished this feat.
• 1960: Maurice Richard retired from the NHL.
• 1961: Jack Nicklaus won the U.S. Amateur Championship for golf.
• 1969: Steve Carlton struck out 19 Mets in one game.
• 1973: Fresh off his Triple Crown victory, the legendary racehorse Secretariat won the Marlboro Cup Invitational Handicap in a world-record time of 1 minute, 45.40 seconds for 1 1/8 miles.
• 1973: Ohio State running back Archie Griffin ran for 100+ yards against Minnesota, starting his NCAA-record streak of 31 consecutive 100-yard rushing games.
• 1975: Notre Dame beat Boston College 17-3 in the first College Football “Holy War.”
• 1978: Muhammad Ali beat Leon Spinks in 15 rounds to win the heavyweight boxing title.
• 1979: Bob Watson was the first MLB player to hit for the cycle in the American and National Leagues.
• 1985: The Yankees traded 25-year-old pitching prospect Jim Deshaies to the Houston Astros for 40-year-old pitcher Joe Niekro.
• 1990: Bobby Thigpen was the first pitcher to record 50 saves in a season.
• 1991: Nancy Scranton won the Canadian Open for women’s golf by three strokes.
• 1995: Ozzie Smith set the record for double plays turned with 1,554.
• 1996: The Texas Rangers retired their first number in franchise history, No. 34, for Nolan Ryan.
• 2002: Rich Gannon began his NFL record-tying streak of six straight 300-yard passing games.
• 2013: Suzann Pettersen won the Evian Championship for women’s golf by two strokes. It was also the first time that the event had major title status.
• 2018: Boxer Gennady Golovkin lost his first pro fight in his 20th title defense.
• 2019: Suzann Pettersen’s putt won the Solheim Cup for women’s golf.
• 2022: Roger Federer announced his retirement from professional tennis, finishing with 20 Grand Slam wins and 103 ATP titles.
• 2025: Armand “Mondo” Duplantis broke his own world record with 6.30m, winning gold at the World Athletics Championships.

Three athletes who stood out on Sept. 15 were Johnny Mize, Rich Gannon, and Gennady Golovkin.

Mize won five World Series titles with the Yankees and had a career .312 batting average with 359 home runs. Gannon starred for the Oakland Raiders from 1999 to 2004, during which he won the 2002 NFL MVP award and led the team to the Super Bowl. Golovkin was a former unified middleweight boxing world champion, celebrated for his exceptional punching power, high knockout ratio, and aggressive, relentless fighting style.