Today in sports history, September 14

Sept. 14

Today in sports history

Today is Sept. 14. On this date in:

1865: Andrew Strath won the Open Championship at Prestwick Golf Club, capturing his first British Open title and finishing two strokes ahead of two-time champion Willie Park Sr.

1923: Heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey survived being knocked through the ropes and knocked out Luis Ángel Firpo 57 seconds into the second round before approximately 86,000 spectators at New York’s Polo Grounds.

1947: Jack Kramer rallied from a two-set deficit to defeat Frank Parker and win his second consecutive U.S. National Championships men’s singles title at Forest Hills.

1955: Cleveland Indians left-hander Herb Score surpassed Grover Cleveland Alexander’s major league rookie record of 227 strikeouts in a season and finished the year with 245.

1968: Detroit’s Denny McLain became the first major league pitcher since Dizzy Dean in 1934 — and the last to date — to win 30 games in a season as the Tigers defeated Oakland.

1973: Congress adopted experimental legislation requiring an NFL game that sold out at least 72 hours before kickoff to be televised in its home market, beginning the rollback of the league’s local television blackout policy.

1979: ESPN televised its first tennis match, a Davis Cup meeting between the United States and Argentina, with Cliff Drysdale beginning his tenure as the network’s lead tennis broadcaster.

1986: Chicago Bears star Walter Payton scored the 100th rushing touchdown of his NFL career, the second player in league history to reach 100 rushing touchdowns after Jim Brown.

1987: The Toronto Blue Jays set a modern major league record by hitting 10 home runs, including three by Ernie Whitt, in an 18-3 rout of the Baltimore Orioles.

1990: Seattle’s Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr. became the first father and son to homer in the same major league game, connecting in consecutive at-bats during a 7-5 win over the California Angels.

1994: Acting commissioner Bud Selig canceled the remainder of the major league season, including the playoffs and World Series, because of the players’ strike. It marked the first cancellation of the World Series.

1996: The United States scored four late third-period goals to defeat Canada 5-2 in Montreal and win the inaugural World Cup of Hockey, with goaltender Mike Richter earning tournament MVP honors.

2003: Baltimore Ravens running back Jamal Lewis rushed for an NFL-record 295 yards and two touchdowns in a 33-13 victory over the Cleveland Browns.

2004: Canada defeated Finland 3-2 in Toronto to win the World Cup of Hockey, with Shane Doan scoring the deciding goal 34 seconds into the third period.

2008: Twenty-one-year-old Sebastian Vettel won the rain-soaked Italian Grand Prix at Monza, giving Toro Rosso its first Formula One victory and becoming the youngest Grand Prix winner at the time.

2009: Juan Martín del Potro defeated five-time defending champion Roger Federer in five sets to win the U.S. Open men’s singles title, earning his first Grand Slam championship.

2017: Jay Bruce’s 10th-inning double gave Cleveland a 3-2 victory over Kansas City and extended its American League-record winning streak to 22 games.

2018: Detroit Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg announced that a degenerative back condition had ended his playing career after 1,082 games, 960 points and a Stanley Cup championship.

— USA TODAY Network

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Today in sports history, September 14