Historically Speaking: 5-5-09

Not sure we've ever had a picture of the "Say Hey Kid" up on this feature, so we're overdue. Mays' importance to the game deserves to be noted, and his image hopefully makes up for the fact that the bits after the jump are enough to put a hippo to sleep. Also, I had to look at the picture closely three times because the resemblance to Barry Bonds really bleeds through in this shot.

* Today in 1863, a cat by the name of Joe Coburn knocked out Mike McCoole for the U.S. boxing title.

* Cy Young threw the third perfect game (in MLB modern-rule history) today in 1904. His Red Sox downed the Philadelphia Athletics,

* Willie Mays broke the National League record for home runs today in 1966 when he sent a ball out of the park for the 512th time.

* The last game at the Boston Gardens was played today in 1995. Sadly, the Celtics fell to the Orlando Magic.

*Five years ago, it was announced that ads for the film "Spider-Man 2" would appear on bases of MLB games during June 11-13 games. That plan lasted all of 24 hours.

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



...Chi Chi Rodriguez, who in 1983, was told by a reporter that he was closing in on the $1 million mark in career pro golf earnings. Rodriguez's response: "The problem is, I'm already over $2 million in spending."