TODAY IN SPORTS HISTORY - APRIL 15TH

1875 - James J. Jeffries, Carroll Ohio, American Heavyweight boxer is born.

1896 - First Olympic games close at Athens, Greece.
1909 - NY Giant Red Ames 2nd no-hitter, loses in 13 on a 7 hitter to Dodgers.
1910 - William Taft is first president to throw out a first ball at a baseball game.
1911 - Walter Johnson pitches a record tying 4 strike outs in an inning.
1925 - NHL's NY Americans (formerly Hamilton Tigers) 1st game, lose 3-1.
1927 - Babe Ruth hits 1st of 60 HRs of season (off A's Howard Ehmke).

1947 - Jackie Robinson becomes 1st African-American

to play in US major league baseball (Dodgers).

1954 - Orioles 1st game in Baltimore beat White Sox 3-1.
1958 - First baseball game in California, SF Giants beat LA Dodgers, 8-0.
1965 - NFL changes penalty flag from white to bright gold.

1977 - First baseball game at Montreal's Olympic Stadium.

1989 - 96 crushed to death at Hillsborough Football Stadium, Sheffield England.

1991 - Magic Johnson sets NBA record for career assists with 9,898.
1991 - Sacramento Kings set NBA record, losing 35th consecutive game on road.
1992 - NY Islander, Al Arbour, coaches most NHL games (1,438).

1994 - John Curry, English figure skater (Oly-gold-76), dies of AIDS at 44.
1996 - 100th Boston Marathon won by Moses Tanui of Kenya in 2:09:15.9.
1997 - Baseball honors Jackie Robinson by retiring #42 for all teams.

2002 - Byron "Whizzer" White, American football player

and U.S. Supreme Court Justice (b. 1917) dies.
2013 - 3 people are killed and 183 are injured after

two explosions near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.