Today in sports history, September 12

Sept. 12

Today in sports history

Today is Sept. 12. On this date in:

1885: Arbroath defeated Bon Accord, 36-0, in the Scottish Cup, establishing a record for the largest margin of victory in an unrigged first-class soccer match that stood for more than a century.

1911: Hall of Fame pitchers Cy Young and Christy Mathewson faced each other for the final time, with Mathewson’s New York Giants beating Young’s Boston Rustlers 11-2.

1922: Finland’s Paavo Nurmi set a world record in the 5,000 meters with a time of 14:35.4, further cementing his status as the era’s dominant distance runner.

1962: Washington Senators pitcher Tom Cheney struck out a major league-record 21 batters and threw 16 innings in a 2-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.

1964: American long jumper Ralph Boston set a world record with a leap of 8.34 meters (27 feet, 4¼ inches).

1965: Otto Graham, Sid Luckman, Steve Van Buren, Bob Waterfield, Guy Chamberlin, Paddy Driscoll and Dan Fortmann were enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

1970: Margaret Court defeated Rosie Casals 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 in the U.S. Open final to complete the calendar-year Grand Slam, becoming the first woman in the Open Era to win all four major singles titles in one season.

1979: Boston’s Carl Yastrzemski collected his 3,000th career hit with a single off New York Yankees pitcher Jim Beattie at Fenway Park, becoming the first American League player with 3,000 hits and 400 home runs.

1984: New York Mets rookie Dwight Gooden recorded 16 strikeouts, finishing the game with 251 strikeouts for the season. In the process, he broke Herb Score’s major league rookie record of 245.

1987: St. Louis Cardinals speedster Vince Coleman stole his 100th base of the season, becoming the first player to reach 100 steals in each of his first three major league seasons.

1990: The prospective Tampa Bay NHL franchise adopted the Lightning name nearly two years before beginning play as an expansion team.

1991: Texas Rangers ace Nolan Ryan earned the 312th victory of his career, moving past Tom Seaver on the all-time wins list.

1992: Monica Seles defeated Arantxa Sánchez Vicario to retain the U.S. Open women’s singles title, her second consecutive championship in New York.

1993: Pete Sampras defeated Cédric Pioline 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 to win his second U.S. Open men’s singles championship and third major title.

1993: Damon Hill won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza for Williams, earning his third consecutive Formula One victory.

1998: Lindsay Davenport defeated Martina Hingis to win the U.S. Open, capturing her first Grand Slam singles title.

1999: Eighteen-year-old goalkeeper Iker Casillas made his Spanish league debut for Real Madrid in a 2-2 draw against Athletic Bilbao.

2004: Roger Federer routed Lleyton Hewitt 6-0, 7-6, 6-0 to win his first U.S. Open title and became the first man since Mats Wilander in 1988 to capture three major singles championships in one year.

2004: The Detroit Lions opened the NFL season by beating the Chicago Bears, snapping a league-record 24-game road losing streak.

2006: The New York Islanders signed goaltender Rick DiPietro to a 15-year contract extension, the longest deal in franchise history.

2014: The Phoenix Mercury defeated the Chicago Sky 87-82 to complete a three-game sweep in the WNBA Finals and capture the franchise’s third championship. Diana Taurasi earned her second Finals MVP award.

2015: Cristiano Ronaldo scored five goals in Real Madrid’s 6-0 victory over Espanyol, becoming the club’s all-time leading scorer in Spanish league play at the time.

2015: Boston’s David Ortiz hit his 499th and 500th career home runs in a 10-4 victory over Tampa Bay, becoming the 27th major league player to reach 500.

2020: Naomi Osaka rallied from a set down to defeat Victoria Azarenka and win her second U.S. Open women’s singles championship.

2021: Ethiopia’s Senbere Teferi ran 14 minutes, 29 seconds to set a women’s world record for 5 kilometers, while Kenya’s Agnes Tirop established a women-only 10-kilometer world record of 30:01 in Herzogenaurach, Germany.

2021: Daniil Medvedev defeated Novak Djokovic 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to win his first major championship at the U.S. Open, denying Djokovic a calendar-year Grand Slam and a then-record-breaking 21st men’s major title.

— USA TODAY Network

This story was created with the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of information gathering, review, editing and publishing. Learn more at cm.usatoday.com/ethical-conduct.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Today in sports history, September 12