This Day in Sports History: July 24

Gold medalist Kristof Milak of Hungary poses during the medal ceremony for the Men's 200m Butterfly Final on day four of the Gwangju 2019 FINA World Championships

Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

July is a hectic time in sports, with Major League Baseball, NBA Summer League games, the British Grand Prix, the Tour de France, and NASCAR races taking place alongside golf tournaments, the MLB All-Star game, Wimbledon, and track and field events. July 24, in particular, has seen notable moments and records galore — we've even squeezed in some soccer. Let's take a closer look.

Unforgettable Games and Remarkable Records

Great sporting moments that happened on July 24 include:

1904: The second Tour de France was won by Henri Cornet (though this was only made official later after several riders were disqualified).
1908: Johnny Hayes of the U.S. won the London Olympic Marathon with a new Olympic record of 2:55:18.4.
1909: Brooklyn Superbas pitcher Nap Rucker struck out 16 Pittsburgh Pirates.
1931: Finland's Paavo Nurmi ran a world record two-mile time of 8:59.6.
1949: Fausto Coppi won the Tour de France.
1952: Emile Zátopek ran an Olympic record 5k time of 14:06.6.
1956: Jack Burke Jr. won the PGA Championship, his second major title.
1960: Jay Hebert won the PGA Championship in his only major title win.
1968: Hoyt Wilhelm pitched in his 907th MLB game, breaking Cy Young's record for pitching appearances.
1977: Golfer Hollis Stacy won the U.S. Women's Open.
1978: Pete Rose tied baseball's National League hitting streak record of 37 games.
1979: The Boston Red Sox's Carl Yastrzemski hit his 400th career home run.
1983: Czechoslovakia beat West Germany in the Tennis Federation Cup.
1983: In the infamous Pine Tar Game, George Brett's home run against the New York Yankees was disallowed because his bat had too much pine tar on it.
1994: Miguel Indurain won his fourth straight Tour de France title.
1994: Patty Sheehan won her second U.S. Women's Open golf title in three years.
2005: Golf legend Tom Watson won his second Senior Open Championship title.
2011: Cadel Evans won the Tour de France, one of only three non-Europeans and the first and only Australian to top the general classification.
2011: Russ Cochran won the men's Senior Open golf title.
2011: Uruguay beat Paraguay 3-0 to win their 15th Copa America title.
2019: Kristóf Milák broke Michael Phelps's 200-meter butterfly swimming record by a whopping 0.78 seconds.
2022: Golfer Brooke Henderson won the women's Evian Championship, her second major title.

July 24 has seen some amazing sporting achievements, but even these winners didn't always have it their own way — Pete Rose, despite becoming MLB's all-time leader for hits with 4,256, was also banned from baseball for life due to gambling. Still, while sports can be a harsh world, their names live on through their accomplishments.

Sports History