1815 – War of 1812: the USS President, an American frigate, is captured by four British frigates.
1892 – Basketball rules first published in Triangle Magazine, written by James Naismith.
1910 – Construction ends on the Buffalo Bill Dam in Wyoming.
1919 – Two million gallons of molasses flood Boston, Massachusetts in the “Great Molasses Flood” when a storage tank burst, drowning 21 and injuring 150.
1927 – Tennessee Supreme Court overturns (on a technically) John T. Scopes’ guilty verdict for teaching evolution in the “Scopes monkey trial”, but the law itself remains in force.
1934 – New York Yankees slugger Babe Ruth, nearing the end of illustrious career, signs a 1-year contract worth $35,000 and represents a pay cut of $17,000 for “The Babe”.
1936 – First all-glass windowless structure in the United States completed in Toledo, Ohio.
1942 – President Franklin Delano Roosevelt sends his famed “Green Light Letter” to Major League Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis encouraging baseball to continue playing during World War II.
1950 – 4,000 attend National Emergency Civil Rights Conference in Washington, D.C.
1961 – 11th NFL Pro Bowl, LA Memorial Coliseum: Western Conference beats Eastern Conference 35-31. Most Valuable Players are Baltimore Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas and New York Giants linebacker Sam Huff.
1964 – San Francisco Giants make outfielder Willie Mays the highest-paid player in baseball when they sign him to a new $105,000 per season contract.
1973 – Four Watergate burglars plead guilty in federal court.
1975 – Space Mountain opens at Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
1984 – Martina Navratilova’s 54-match winning streak ends when beaten by Hana Mandlikova 7-6, 3-6, 6-4 in the final of the Virginia Sims of California tennis event in Oakland. After the loss Navratilova wins next 74 matches for new record.
1989 – Cerebral Palsy telethon raises $22.6 million.
1994 – Lawrence Taylor announces his retirement from the NFL.
2001 – Wikipedia, a free Wiki or content encyclopedia, is launched by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger.
2009 – Chesley Sullenberger lands US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport in New York City. All passengers and crew members survive in what becomes known as the “Miracle on the Hudson.”
2014 – Los Angeles Dodgers sign pitcher Clayton Kershaw to the biggest deal in baseball history, a 7-year, $215 million package average, an $30.7 million per season.
2018 – US Olympic gold medal winning gymnast Simone Biles says she is one of more than 130 women sexually abused by former team doctor Larry Nassar.
2023 – Lakers’ LeBron James surpasses 38,000 NBA career points, joining only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, in 113-112 loss to Philadelphia 76ers at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California.
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