This day in history: 7th September

Hampshire and England batsman CB Fry died in 1956, at 84.

Cricket:

1871 - One of the greatest all-rounders, George Hirst, was born. Hirst, who played for England, scored five fifties and took five wickets haul four times, all against Australia, away from home. He is better known for his achievements in the county circuit, where he helped Yorkshire win the Championship three years in a row. He achieved a double of 2000 runs and 200 wickets in 1906.

1956 - Charles Burgess Fry, English cricketer turned journalist, dies at 84. CB Fry excelled in multiple sports and went on to represent England in cricket and football both. He played Association Football for England against Ireland in 1901; he was at full-back for Southampton in the FA Cup Final of 1902. While in cricket, he played 26 Test matches, scoring 1223 at an average of 32.18, which was remarkable for that era. He also played for Hampshire at County level.

1963 - The inaugural Gillette Cup final, which was a huge success and ultimately paved the way for one-day international cricket, was played at Lord’s. Sussex defeated Worcestershire by 14 runs on a rain hit day.

1976 - Birth of a West Indian opener Wavell Hinds. He scored 2608 runs in 45 Test matches at an average of 33.01. But he will most be remembered for his valiant knock of 165 and 52 in only his fourth Test, against a Pakistan bowling line-up made up of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, and Saqlain Mushtaq.

Tennis:

1969 - Rod Laver completes his 2nd Grand Slam by winning US Tennis Open.

1975 - Manuel Orantes upsets No.1 seed Jimmy Connors to win US Open.

1980 - John McEnroe & Bjorn Borg stage one of the greatest US Open finals, as 21 year old McEnroe fends off Borg to win his 2nd straight title.

1991 - 105th US Womens Tennis Open: Monica Seles, 17, defeats Martina Navratilova – 34.

Baseball:

1952 - Whitey Ford becomes 5th pitcher to hurl consecutive 1 hitters.

1952 - NY Yankees Johnny Mize’s pinch-hit grand slam gives Yanks a 5-1 win at Washington He has now HRed in all 15 major league parks.

1953 - Roy Campanella sets catcher record of 125 (en route to 142) RBIs.

1998 - Mark McGuire set a new major league baseball record for most home-runs hit in a single season. The previous record was 61 set in 1961.

1992 – Baseball commissioner Faye Vincent resigns.

Olympics:

1960 - Ljudmila Shevcova runs female Olympic record 800m (2:04.3)

Do check out the rest of the ‘This day in history‘ series.