This Day in Sports History: July 31
Sports in July are all about Major League Baseball, Summer League games, the British Grand Prix, the Tour de France, NASCAR races, golf tournaments, the MLB All-Star Game, Wimbledon, and…
Sports in July are all about Major League Baseball, Summer League games, the British Grand Prix, the Tour de France, NASCAR races, golf tournaments, the MLB All-Star Game, Wimbledon, and track and field events. Across the years, July 31 has seen notable sports moments and stories from legends across many different sports. Let's take a closer look at some of them.
Unforgettable Games and Remarkable Records
Here are some of the greatest moments in sports history that have occurred on July 31:
- 1910: Octave Lapize won the Tour de France.
- 1928: Halina Konopacka threw a discus 39.62 meters and won the first-ever gold medal for Poland at the Olympics. She also set a world record with the throw.
- 1930: Lou Gehrig hit a grand slam and drove in eight runs.
- 1932: The Cleveland Indians christen their new home, Municipal Stadium, before more than 76,000 fans. They lost the opener 1-0 to the Philadelphia A's.
- 1932: André Leducq won his second Tour de France.
- 1932: Jean Borotra beat American Wilmer Allison at the International Lawn Tennis Challenge.
- 1934: Great Britain took a 3-1 lead on the USA in the International Lawn Tennis Challenge. Britain eventually won the match 4-1.
- 1938: At the 32nd Tour de France, Italian cyclist Gino Bartali won both the general and mountain classifications.
- 1948: Harrison Dillard won gold in the 100-meter track race with an Olympic record time of 10.3 seconds.
- 1954: Joe Adcock became the seventh MLB player to hit four home runs in a nine-inning game.
- 1961: Jerry Barber won the PGA Championship, his only major title.
- 1961: At the 31st baseball All-Star game, the first tie in history happened because the game was called due to rain after nine innings with the score 1–1.
- 1963: The Indians hit four straight home runs in one game.
- 1972: Dick Allen became the seventh player in MLB history to hit two inside-the-park home runs.
- 1978: Pete Rose achieved a hitting streak of 44 games, which ended the next day on Aug. 1.
- 1983: Jan Stephenson won her third major title, the U.S. Women's Golf Open.
- 1987: Eddie Murray hit the 300th home run of his career.
- 1988: The Miami Dolphins beat the San Francisco 49ers 27-21 in the American Bowl at London's Wembley Stadium.
- 1990: Nolan Ryan won his 300th MLB game.
- 1992: Swimmer Krisztina Egerszegi won her third gold medal at the Barcelona Olympics.
- 1997: Slugger Mark McGwire got traded from the A's to the Cardinals in the middle of the season.
- 2005: Jeong Jang won the British Open for Women's Golf, and it was her first major title.
- 2005: Allen Doyle won the U.S. Senior Open for Men's Golf by one stroke.
- 2007: The Boston Celtics traded seven players to the Minnesota Timberwolves to get Kevin Garnett. This seven-to-one trade was the biggest ever in NBA history at the time.
- 2011: Olin Browne became the fifth player in history to win on the Nationwide Tour.
- 2012: Michael Phelps became the greatest medal winner in Olympic history.
- 2021: Katie Ledecky won her third Olympic gold in a row in the 800-meter swimming race.
Looking back on these moments, the athletes who stand out are Jan Stephenson, Mark McGwire, and Michael Phelps.
Stephenson has 41 worldwide victories, including ten LPGA Legends Tour wins and eight worldwide major championships. McGwire played 16 seasons for the Oakland Athletics and St. Louis Cardinals and is known for his powerful swing and high home run totals. Phelps is famous for being the most decorated Olympian of all time, with a total of 28 medals, including 23 gold. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest swimmers in history.
