Historically Speaking: 6-19-09

I'm sure our readership was thrilled to see HS back again yesterday, and to really carry the excitement into the weekend, we've diversified the portfolio even more. See what I'm spittin', just past the jump. Oh. And have a great weekend.

* We'll go ahead and assume that at some point this month, the U.S. Open will get underway. Thus, a few golfers that won it on this date: Ed Furgol took it home in 1954 when he shot a 284; Jack Fleck took the prize the following year with a 287; Hubert Green had the honors in 1977 with a finishing mark of 278; Curtis Strange shot the same 11 years later; and Ernie Els had a 279 in 1994.

* We usually don't mention significant base-hit milestones in the MLBs unless the feat was accomplished by somebody really awesome, like Pete Rose, who collected his 2000th today in 1973. Though it was never proved, he would allegedly later ask the commissioner's office how his aspen bat tasted.

* Some soccer history? Why the hell not. Argentina beat West Germany today in 1986 to claim the World Cup. Other June 19, 1986 news included the shocking, cocaine-induced seizure of the University of Maryland's Len Bias, which resulted in the star's near-immediate death.

* Today in 1992, Evander Holyfield took care of Larry Holmes via a 12-round unanimous decision in Las Vegas. It was Holyfield's third title defense since taking the belt from James "Buster" Douglas two years prior.

* With Sammy Sosa in the news, the talk of putting an asterisk on certain sports records stays a-simmer. Sort of like today in 1999 when the Dallas Stars won the Stanley Cup* in triple overtime of game six against the Buffalo Sabres.

And your Sports Illustrated quote of the day came from the mouth of...



...pro golfer Elaine Johnson (Editor's Note: not pictured above), who, in 1992 hit a tee shot off of a tree that caromed into her bra. Regarding her next shot's strategy, she said: "I'll take the two-stroke penalty, but I'll be damned if I'm going to play the ball where it lies."