Here is the first edition of “This Week in Sports History”. I hope to do a weekly column highlighting fun and memorable things that happened in sports. Enjoy!

August 11:

1929 – Babe Ruth became the first major league player to hit 500 career home runs. It was one of many records that the Babe would set during his time playing in the majors.

1971 – Amazingly enough, on the same day 42 years later Harmon Killebrew hit his 500th career home run. He reportedly hit it 385 feet off of Orioles southpaw Mike Cuellar.

August 12:

1984 –  A brawl for the ages, where a total of 17 players were ejected. The chaos erupted after Braves pitcher Pascual Perez hit Padres leadoff hitter Alan Wiggins, setting off a chain of retaliatory actions and subsequent fights. The ejections included players from both teams, as well as several managers. Some fans got involved and were even arrested for the incident.

2000 – Evander Holyfield wins the vacant WBA heavyweight title, becoming the first fighter ever to hold it four times.

August 13:

1910 – In what can only be described as a strange, the Brooklyn Superbas and Pirates finish tied 8–8. The odd part is the teams had the same runs, hits, errors, assists, strikeouts, walks, hit batters, and passed balls. Everything was identical.

2008 – Amazing athlete and swimmer Michael Phelps won three gold medals in a single day at the Beijing Olympics, each with world-record times—something that had never been done before and probably won’t happen again for a very long time.

August 14:

1937 – The Detroit Tigers defeated the St Louis Browns in a double header for the ages. The Tigers managed to score 36 runs in the two games including a 16-1 victory followed by a 20-7 win. While the Texas Rangers hold the record for most runs in one game (30), this is the most scored in a double header.

1987 – Rookie slugger Mark McGwire sets a new MLB rookie home-run record with 39 homers.

2024 – Aaron Judge smashes his 300th career homer-run quicker to that mark than both Babe Ruth and Ralph Kiner.

August 15:

1975 – Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver gets ejected not once, but twice. The Orioles played a double header and the same umpire ejected Weaver from both games.

1993 – Legend Nolan Ryan records his final career win, a record 324th, against the Cleveland Indians.

2011 – MLB Slugger Jim Thome hits career homers number 599 and 600 in the same game.

August 16: 

1954 – Sports Illustrated publishes its first ever issue, which featured Milwaukee Braves third baseman Eddie Matthews on the cover. The issue also contained a fold out of Topps baseball cards that included Willie Mays, Ted Williams and Jackie Robinson to name a few.

2008 – Usain Bolt wins Olympic 100m gold in 9.69s, which was a world record at the time it was accomplished. He broke that record exactly one year later.

August 17:

1973 – Mets legend Willie Mays hits his final career home-run against the Cincinnati Reds.

2008 – Rafael Nadal wins Spain’s first-ever Olympic tennis gold. Also, Michael Phelps wins his 8th gold medal of Beijing Games, setting a new single-Games record.

August 18:

1982 – Pete Rose became the all time leader in plate appearances in MLB history.

1989 – Ironman Cal Ripken Jr. played in his 1208th straight game, surpassing Steve Garvey for the third longest streak in baseball history.

1995 – In what was quite an offensive performance, the Chicago Cubs crushed the Colorado Rockies 26–7 in a game featuring multiple franchise-record stats.