May 27
1823 — A $20,000 match race between American Eclipse (representing The North) and Henry (representing The South) is held at Union Course, Long Island, N.Y. American Eclipse wins in two-of-three heats, after his original jockey, William Crafts, is replaced by Samuel Purdy before the second heat. The race, witnessed by 60,000 spectators, is the first to have been timed by split-second chronometers, which were imported for the event.
1873 — Survivor is the winner of the first Preakness Stakes.
1882 — Trainer Robert Walden wins his fifth consecutive Preakness Stakes, with Vanguard. Walden would win a total of seven Preaknesses, a record for a trainer.
1968 — “Papa Bear” George Halas retires as head coach of the Chicago Bears.
1972 — Mark Donohue wins the Indianapolis 500 over two-time defending champion Al Unser with a record average speed of 162.962 mph.
1975 — The Philadelphia Flyers win their second straight Stanley Cup with a 2-0 victory over the Buffalo Sabres in Game 6.
1981 — Willie Shoemaker wins his 8,000th race and then three more. Shoemaker gets the milestone on top of War Allied in the first race at Hollywood Park.
1981 — Julius Erving of the Philadelphia 76ers is named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player, making him the only player to win MVP honors in both the NBA and the ABA.
1982 — The Los Angeles Lakers, despite an 11-day layoff, beat Philadelphia 124-117 in Game 1 of the NBA Finals for their ninth consecutive victory. The nine straight wins sets the NBA record for consecutive wins during one postseason.
1984 — Rick Mears wins the Indianapolis 500 by the largest margin in 17 years with a record-setting 163.612 mph. Mears beats Roberto Guerrero and Al Unser by two laps. Fifteen of the 33 drivers are eliminated during two crashes.
1985 — Scott Wedman sinks four three-point field goals without a miss and shot 11-for-11 overall from the field, both NBA Finals records, as Boston routs the Los Angeles Lakers 148-114 in Game 1. Boston’s 148 points and 62 field goals are NBA Finals records.
1990 — Arie Luyendyk wins the fastest Indianapolis 500 by overpowering former winner Bobby Rahal over the final 33 laps, for his first Indy car victory in 76 races. His average speed of 185.984 mph breaks Rahal’s record of 170.722 in 1986. Luyendyk becomes the first to finish the race in under three hours.
1998 — In one of the biggest upsets in Grand Slam history, Pete Sampras is ousted at the French Open by 21-year-old Ramon Delgado of Paraguay, ranked 97th in the world, 7-6 (8-6), 6-3, 6-4.
2001 — Hicham El Guerrouj runs the fastest outdoor mile ever in the United States, and high school sensation Alan Webb breaks four minutes outdoors. El Guerrouj wins in a sizzling 3 minutes, 49.92 seconds, shattering the U.S. all-comers’ record of 3:50.86. Webb, the 18-year-old from Reston, Va., puts on a brilliant last-lap burst and finishes fifth at 3:53.43, smashing the high school record of 3:55.3 set by Jim Ryun in 1965.
2004 — Brad Richards’ goal in Tampa Bay’s 4-1 victory over Calgary is the game-winner — his record-tying sixth of the postseason.
2007 — Dario Franchitti gambles on the rain and wins the Indy 500. Franchitti inherits the lead by staying on the track when the leaders pit for fuel and then drives slowly to the checkered flag in a downpour when the race is stopped 10 laps later after 415 of the scheduled 500 miles.
2011 — Top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki loses to Daniela Hantuchova 6-1, 6-3 in the third round of the French Open. It marks the first time in the Open era that the top two seeded women fail to make the round of 16 at a Grand Slam tournament. Kim Clijsters, the No. 2 seed, lost on May 26.
2012 — Dario Franchitti wins the Indianapolis for the third time, taking advantage when Takuma Sato crashes on the final lap.
2012 — Manu Ginobili scores 26 points and San Antonio wins its 19th in a row to tie the NBA record for longest winning streak kept alive in the playoffs. The Spurs beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 101-98 to open the Western Conference finals.
2014 — The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater becomes the only school in NCAA history to win championships in football, men's basketball and baseball ni the same school year.
2018 — Chris Frome wins the Giro d'Italia to join cycling greats Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault with his third consecutive Grand Tour victory.
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May 28
1901 — Parader, ridden by Fred Landry, overcomes a bad start to win the Preakness Stakes by two lengths over Sadie S.
1904 — Bryn Mawr, ridden by Eugene Hildebrand, wins the Preakness Stakes by one length over Wotan.
1946 — The Washington Senators beat New York 2-1 in the first night game at Yankee Stadium.
1956 — Dale Long of the Pittsburgh Pirates hits a home run in his eighth consecutive game for a major league record. Long connects off Brooklyn’s Carl Erskine at Forbes Field.
1978 — Al Unser wins his third Indianapolis 500, the fifth driver to do so, edging Tom Sneva by 8.19 seconds.
1985 — The San Diego Sockers beat the Baltimore Blast 5-3 to win the MISL title in five games.
1995 — Jacques Villeneuve overcomes one penalty and wins by another in the Indianapolis 500. Villeneuve drives to victory after fellow Canadian Scott Goodyear is penalized for passing the pace car on the final restart.
2000 — Dutch swimming star Inge de Bruijn sets her third world record in three days, adding the 100 freestyle mark to the 50 and 100 butterfly marks she set previously at the Sheffield Super Grand Prix. De Bruijn becomes the first swimmer to finish under 54.00 in the 100 freestyle at 53.80 seconds.
2006 — Sam Hornish Jr. overcomes a disastrous mistake in the pits and a pair of Andrettis — Marco and father Michael — to win the second-closest Indianapolis 500 ever, by .0635 seconds.
2006 — Barry Bonds hits his 715th home run during the San Francisco Giants’ 6-3 loss to the Colorado Rockies to slip past Babe Ruth and pull in behind Hank Aaron and his long-standing record of 755.
2007 — Duke has an almost unfathomable comeback fall short in a 12-11 loss to Johns Hopkins in the NCAA lacrosse championship game. The Blue Devils never finished their 2006 season, and then make it all the way back to the title game.
2011 — Novak Djokovic extends his perfect start to the season at the French Open, beating Juan Martin del Potro 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 for his 40th straight victory this year. Djokovic’s 40-0 start to 2011 is the second-best opening streak in the Open era, which started in 1968.
2020 — The Boston Marathon canceled for the first time in its 124-year history. The race had originally been scheduled for April 20 before being postponed for five months because of the coronavirus pandemic.
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May 29
1922 — The Supreme Court rules organized baseball is primarily a sport and not a business and therefore not subject to antitrust laws and interstate commerce regulations.
1946 — Two-year-old fillies Chakoora and Uleta become the first thoroughbreds to complete a transcontinental flight. They’re flown from New York to Inglewood, Calif., by the American Air Express Corp., a 2,446-mile trip that lasts 20 hours due to bad weather.
1971 — Al Unser wins his second straight Indianapolis 500 with a record mark of 157.735 mph and finishes 22 seconds ahead of Peter Revson. The pace car, ridden by Eldon Palmer, crashes into the portable bleachers and injures 20 people.
1977 — A.J. Foyt becomes the first driver to win four Indianapolis 500s and Janet Guthrie becomes the first woman in the race. Guthrie is forced to drop out after 27 laps with mechanical problems.
1983 — After three second-place finishes, Tom Sneva wins the Indianapolis 500 by 11 seconds over three-time champion Al Unser.
1988 — Rick Mears overcomes an early one-lap deficit, then overpowers the rest of the field on the way to his third Indianapolis 500 victory. Mears gives team-owner Roger Penske an unprecedented seventh victory and fourth in five years.
1990 — Stefan Edberg and Boris Becker, the top two seeds, are bounced in the first round of the French Open by two European teenagers, the first time the top two men’s seeds are eliminated in the first round of a Grand Slam tournament. Edberg is swept easily in straight sets by 19-year-old Sergi Bruguera of Spain, and Becker loses to 18-year-old Yugoslav Goran Ivanisevic.
1993 — Wayne Gretzky’s overtime goal gives the Los Angeles Kings a 5-4 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Western Conference finals. The Kings become the first NHL team to play the full 21 games in the first three rounds.
1998 — Eighteen-year-old Marat Safin, ranked 116th in the world and playing in his first Grand Slam tournament, beats defending champion Gustavo Kuerten, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the second round of the French Open.
2002 — Roger Clemens records the 100th double-digit strikeout game of his career, fanning 11 in seven innings against Chicago. Only Nolan Ryan (215) and Randy Johnson (175) have more games with 10 or more strikeouts.
2005 — Dan Wheldon wins the Indianapolis 500 when Danica Patrick’s electrifying run falls short. Patrick is the first woman to lead at Indy, getting out front three separate times for a total of 19 laps. But Wheldon passes her with seven of the 200 laps to go and easily holds on.
2006 — Rafael Nadal passes Guillermo Vilas as the King of the clay courts and begins his pursuit of a second successive French Open trophy. Nadal earns his 54th consecutive win on clay, breaking the Open era record he shared with Vilas by beating Robin Soderling in straight sets in the first round at Roland Garros.
2010 — Philadelphia’s Roy Halladay pitches the 20th perfect game in major league history, beating the Florida Marlins 1-0. Halladay strikes out 11 and goes to either 3-1 or 3-2 counts seven times, twice in the game’s first three batters alone.
2011 — JR Hildebrand, one turn from winning the Indianapolis 500, skids high into the wall on the final turn and Dan Wheldon drives past to claim an improbable second Indy 500 win in his first race of the year.
2011 — Roger Federer sets another record by reaching the French Open quarterfinals, and Novak Djokovic closes in on a pair of his own. Federer extends his quarterfinal streak at major tournaments to 28 with a 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 victory over Stanislas Wawrinka. Djokovic maintains his perfect season to 41-0 and stretches his overall winning streak to 43 matches by beating Richard Gasquet of France 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.
2012 — Serena Williams loses in the first round of a major tournament for the first time, falling to Virginie Razzano of France 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3 at the French Open. Williams enters the day with a 46-0 record in first-round matches at Grand Slam tournaments.
2016 — Alexander Rossi wins the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500.
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May 30
1903 — Flocarline becomes the first filly to win the Preakness Stakes.
1908 — Jockey Joe Notter misjudges the finish of the Belmont Stakes and eases up on his mount, Colin, whose career record to that point was 13-for-13. Notter recovers from his mistake and holds off Fair Play, who came within a head of defeating Colin. When he retired, Colin’s record stood at 15 wins in as many starts.
1911 — Ray Harroun wins the first Indianapolis 500 in 6 hours, 42 minutes and 8 seconds with an average speed of 74.59 mph.
1912 — Joe Dawson wins the second Indianapolis 500 in 6:21:06. Ralph Mulford is told he has to complete the race for 10th place money. It takes him 8 hours and 53 minutes as he makes several stops for fried chicken. The finishing rule is changed the next year.
1951 — Lee Wallard wins the Indianapolis 500, becoming the first driver to break the 4-hour mark with a time of 3:57:38.05.
1952 — At 22, Troy Ruttman becomes the youngest driver to win the Indianapolis 500.
1955 — Bob Sweikert, an Indianapolis native, wins the Indianapolis 500. Bill Vukovich, seeking his third consecutive victory, is killed in a four-car crash on the 56th lap.
1985 — The Edmonton Oilers win the Stanley Cup for the second straight year with an 8-3 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 5.
1993 — Emerson Fittipaldi wins his second Indianapolis 500, by 2.8 seconds. Fittipaldi takes the lead on lap 185 and holds on, outfoxing Formula One champion Nigel Mansell and runner-up Arie Luyendyk.
2004 — In Cooper City, Fla., Canada easily beats the United States in a three-day cricket match, the first competition on American soil sanctioned by the International Cricket Council.
2005 — Johns Hopkins wins its first NCAA lacrosse title in 18 years, beating Duke 9-8 to complete an undefeated season.
2009 — Travis Tucker hits an RBI single with one out in the top of the 25th inning to give Texas a 3-2 victory over Boston College in the longest baseball game in NCAA history.
2010 — Dario Franchitti gets a huge break from a spectacular crash on the last lap to climb back on top of the open-wheel world to win the Indianapolis 500. Franchitti’s second Brickyard victory in four years helps his boss, Chip Ganassi, become the first owner to win Indy and NASCAR’s Daytona 500 in the same year.
2011 — Jim Tressel, who guided Ohio State to its first national title in 34 years, resigns amid NCAA violations from a tattoo-parlor scandal that sullied the image of one of the country’s top football programs.
2012 — Roger Federer breaks Jimmy Connors’ Open era record of 233 Grand Slam match wins by beating Adrian Ungur of Romania 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-3 in the second round of the French Open. Federer, who owns a record 16 major championships, is 234-35 at tennis’ top four tournaments. Connors was 233-49. The Open era began in 1968.