September 19, 1947 - Jackie Robinson was named the first winner of the Major League Baseball's Rookie of the Year Award, or the J. Louis Comiskey Memorial Award, as it was called at that time.

A 28-year old in only his third professional season, Robinson played first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, a position he had never played before. He led the league in stolen bases and helped the club to their first pennant in six years. more.

September 8, 1998 at 8:18 p.m. CDT, St. Louis Cardinals' Mark McGwire smashed Roger Maris' 61 single-season home-run record, which had stood for 37 years, in this game against the Chicago Cubs. McGwire hustled around the bases hoping to get a double when he hit an 88-mph pitch toward the left-field foul pole, but it surprisingly went over the wall, 3 ft. inside the foul line.

McGwire finished the 1998 season with 70 home runs (including five in his last three games), four ahead of Sosa's 66, a record that was broken three seasons later in 2001 by Barry Bonds with 73.

Although McGwire had the prestige of the home run record, Sammy... more.

September 7, 1993 - Ever hear the name Mark Whiten?  Only stone Rotisserie players of a certain age are likley to ID him as a switch-hitting outfielder with a little pop who played with nine different teams during an 11-year career that ended in 2000.  He'll never be mentioned in the same breath with Ruth, Aaron, or Bonds.  He won't have a plaque in Cooperstown.  But for one magical night, Mark Whiten was one of the greatest hitters in baseball history.  In the second game of a Cardinals-Reds doubleheader, Whiten, a Cardinal at the time, pounded out four homers and drove in a record tying 12 runs.  

"I don't... more.

September 6, 1995 - In the brightest, most dramatic development of a season damaged by an unresolved labor dispute, Cal Ripken defied the odds of probability and baseball reality, playing in his 2,131st consecutive game. That was one more game than Lou Gehrig achieved in his legendary streak that stood untouched-and was believed to be untouchable-for 56 years.

Gehrig's record, which Ripken broke on the Baltimore Orioles' home field at Camden Yards, was not as glamorous as many others in baseball lore, but Ripken's ability to break it was perhaps an even more remarkable feat. Playing every game for 131/2 seasons certainly was thought to be... more.

September 2, 1960 - Wilma Rudolph of Tennessee State University, hobbled as a child by polio that required leg braces, became the world's fastest woman by winning the 100-meter dash at the Rome Olympics (her semifinal heat of 11.3 seconds had tied the world record). She also won gold medals in the 200 meters and the 4x100 relay. more.

August 29, 1974 - Moses Malone became the highest salaried teen-age athlete in the United States by choosing a seven-year professional basketball deal, with a potential value of $3 million, instead of playing for the University of Maryland. The 19-year-old from Petersburg, Va., 6 feet 11 inches tall, was acclaimed as the country's top high school basketball star the season prior. Although he posted only a C average throughout high school, more than 300 colleges offered him scholarships-about a quarter of all the colleges in the United States that fielded basketball teams at the time. more.