This Day in Sports History: April 23

Unforgettable Games and Remarkable Records

• 1869: The first professional baseball exhibition game happened, as the Cincinnati Red Stockings beat the Cincinnati amateurs 24-15.
• 1903: The New York Highlanders, now known as the New York Yankees, won their first MLB game.
• 1921: Charley Paddock ran a world record 100m in 10.4 seconds.
• 1937: New York Giants pitcher Carl Hubbell got his 17th straight win. He eventually got the streak up to 24 wins in a row.
• 1939: Ted Williams hit his first Major League home run while playing for the Boston Red Sox.
• 1946: Brooklyn Dodger Ed Head no-hits the Boston Braves, 5-0.
• 1950: The Minneapolis Lakers established themselves as a dominating force in the NBA by defeating the Syracuse Nationals in six games to secure their second straight title.
• 1954: Right fielder Hank Aaron, then a member of the Milwaukee Braves, hit his first career home run. Aaron would go on to hit 754 more on his way to becoming an MLB Hall of Famer.
• 1989: Legendary center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played his final game for the Los Angeles Lakers before hanging up his boots on one of the finest careers in the history of the NBA.
• 1989: As Abdul-Jabbar played his final game in the NBA, the Dallas Cowboys were making a franchise-altering decision with the first overall pick in the NFL Draft. That pick was spent on quarterback Troy Aikman, who would become one of the best quarterbacks in Cowboys history.
• 1993: During a game between the Orlando Magic and the New Jersey Nets, Shaquille O'Neal ripped down the backboard on New Jersey's home court as the Magic secured a 119-116 victory.
• 1999: St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Fernando Tatis (father of current San Diego Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr.) became the first player in MLB history to hit two grand slams in a single inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
• 2005: The San Francisco 49ers decided to pick quarterback Alex Smith instead of hometown hero Aaron Rodgers in the first pick of the NFL Draft.
• 2015: Kawhi Leonard was named the NBA Defensive Player of the Year for the first time.
• 2019: The Portland Trail Blazers closed out the series against the Oklahoma City Thunder with the help of point guard Damian Lillard's 50-point game. Lillard sank a three-pointer in the final seconds to send the Blazers to the second round of the playoffs.
• 2020: After an abysmal season, the Cincinnati Bengals selected quarterback Joe Burrow with the first overall pick in the NFL Draft. Burrow led Cincinnati to a Super Bowl berth in 2022.