This day in sports: Mickey Mantle hits 500th career home run
Batting left-handed in the seventh inning, Mickey Mantle lined a pitch from Baltimore relief ace Stu Miller into the lower right-field seats at Yankee Stadium on this date in 1967 for his 500th career home run. The solo shot was the difference in New York’s 6-5 win over the Orioles.
The blast made Mantle a member of an exclusive club with five other players who had hit 500 or more home runs.
“When a World Series is over, I feel a load is off my back. That’s the way I feel right now,” he said after the game. ”I am glad it came off Stu. I think it’s the first I ever hit against him.”
The switch-hitting slugger would end his career with 536 home runs, hitting 372 left-handed and 164 right-handed.
If their season hadn’t been postponed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Dodgers would have played baseball Thursday against the Phillies in Philadelphia.
A look at some of the biggest moments in sports history that occurred on April 12.
Here is a look at memorable games and outstanding sports performances on this date:
1913 — Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators gives up a run in the fourth inning against the St. Louis Browns and it ends his streak of pitching 56 scoreless innings. The Senators beat the Browns 10-5 and Johnson would win 36 games that season, 40% of the team’s victories.
1919 — Four days after he wins the Kentucky Derby, Sir Barton, ridden by Johnny Loftus, crosses the finish line first at the Preakness Stakes in 1:53 flat and four lengths ahead of Eternal at Pimlico Race Track in Baltimore. Sir Barton goes on to win the Belmont Stakes and is the first winner of the Triple Crown.
1977 — The Montreal Canadiens edge the Boston Bruins 2-1 in overtime and complete a four-game sweep to win their second straight Stanley Cup championship. Jacques Lemaire scores the winner when he fires the puck past goaltender Gerry Cheevers. It is Lemaire’s third game-winning goal of the series.
1989 — James Worthy scores 12 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter as the Lakers overcome a 29-point first-half deficit to beat the Seattle SuperSonics 97-95 and sweep the NBA Western Conference semifinal series, four games to none. The Lakers put together a 18-6 run in the fourth quarter and take the lead for the first time with 6:14 to go.
1993 — Billy Mayfair fires a nine-under par 61, the 11th-best 18-hole score in PGA Tour history, in the second round of the Byron Nelson Classic at Irving, Texas. Mayfair’s effort includes one bogey and he trails leader Dan Forsman by three strokes with two rounds to go.
1995 — Kelly Robbins comes from three shots down in the final seven holes to win the LPGA Championship by a stroke over defending champion Laura Davies of England at the DuPont Country Club in Wilmington, Del. Robbins finishes at 10-under par 274 for her only major title.
2006 — Rafael Nadal, 19, overpowers Roger Federer in five sets to successfully defend his Rome Masters title and tie Guillermo Vilas’ record 53-match winning streak on clay in the Open era. It is also the Spaniard’s fourth straight win over the Swiss star, who is ranked No. 1 in the world.
A look at what happened today in sport history.
2015 — Corey Brewer scores 15 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter and Houston erases a 19-point, second-half deficit to stun the Clippers 119-107 at Staples Center, forcing a Game 7 in the NBA Western Conference semifinals. James Harden scores 23 points for Houston. Chris Paul and Blake Griffin lead the Clippers with 31 and 28 points, respectively. The Rockets would go on to win Game 7 113-100.
2017 — Si Woo Kim of South Korea is the youngest winner of The Players Championship with a game and nerves well beyond his 21 years. Kim is the only player to go bogey-free on the TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course at Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., and closes with a three-under par 69 for a three-shot victory in golf’s biggest tournament that’s not a major. The previous youngest champion was Adam Scott, who at 23 won in 2005. Ian Poulter and Louis Oosthuizen finish the tournament tied for second.
Sources: The Times, Associated Press
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