Hank Aaron collected his 3,000th hit, in a game against the Cincinnati Reds, the team against which he played his first game. He was the first player to get 3,000 career hits and 500 career home runs. Also during that year, Aaron established the record for most seasons with thirty or more home runs in the National League.

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Michael Jordan averaged 28.2 points, 6.5 rebounds. 5.9 assists, 2.4 steals.

During his first season in the NBA, Jordan averaged 28.2 ppg on 51.5% shooting. He quickly became a fan favorite even in opposing arenas, and appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated with the heading “A Star is Born” just over a month into his professional career. Jordan was also voted in as an All-Star starter by the fans in his rookie season. Controversy arose before the All-Star game when word surfaced that several veteran players, led by Isiah Thomas, were upset by the amount of attention Jordan was receiving. This led to a so-called “freeze-out” on Jordan, where players refused to pass him the ball throughout the game. The controversy left Jordan relatively unaffected when he returned to regular season play, and he would go on to be voted Rookie of the Year. The Bulls finished the season 38–44, and lost in the first round of the playoffs in four games to the Milwaukee Bucks.

Joe DiMaggio holds the MLB record with a streak of 56 consecutive games in 1941 which began on May 15 and ended July 17. DiMaggio hit .408 during his streak (91 for 223), with 15 home runs and 55 RBIs.

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Kirby Puckett spent his entire 12-year baseball career playing with the Minnesota Twins (1984–1995) and is the Twins franchise’s all-time leader in career hits, runs, doubles, and total bases. At the time of his retirement, his .318 career batting average was the highest by any right-handed American League batter since Joe DiMaggio.

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Reggie Jackson played 21 seasons and reached the post-season in 11 of them, winning six pennants and five World Series. His accomplishments include winning both the regular-season and World Series MVP awards in 1973, hitting 563 career home runs (sixth all-time at the time of his retirement), maintaining a .490 career slugging percentage, being named to 14 All-Star teams, and the dubious distinction of being the all-time leader in strikeouts with 2,597 (he finished with 13 more career strikeouts than hits). Jackson was the first major leaguer to hit one hundred home runs for three different clubs, having hit over 100 for the Athletics, Yankees, and Angels.

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Under the system adopted prior to the 1985 NBA Draft, the NBA Lottery determines the order of selection for the non-playoff teams (or the teams holding their picks through trades) for the first round only. Teams pick in inverse order of their records in the second round in all succeeding rounds.

In 1985, the jackpot of the very first NBA draft lottery was 7-0 Georgetown center Patrick Ewing. All seven teams that didn’t make the playoffs had an equal chance of landing the No.1 pick and thereby, Ewing. A lucky bounce of the ping pong balls made the New York Knicks the first draft lottery winner and then-general manager (and Hall of Famer) Dave DeBusschere rose from his seat with a celebratory fist pump.

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Mario Andretti was the fastest driver (Indianapolis 500) in practice all week, leading the charts at 221.565 mph. On pole day morning, Mario drove a lap of 220.372 mph. On his qualifying attempt, though, he could only get to 214.692 mph. No one knew what happened to the car and why it went so slow. On race day, he had just as bad of luck. After several long pit stops to repair gearbox problems, an oil leak, and electrical gremlins, Andretti finally called it quits. With the leaders at lap 170, Mario was about 50 laps down with a dead engine. Mario was credited with 118 laps in 20th place.

A statue was later created by Harry Weber sculptor that depicted Bobby Orr of the Boston Bruin flying through the air immediately after scoring the goal.

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The longest American League game, and tied for the longest major league game by innings which ended with one team winning, was a 7-6 victory by the Chicago White Sox over the Milwaukee Brewers in 25 innings, at Comiskey Park in Chicago in 1984. The game began at 7:30 p.m. on the evening of May 8, and after scoring early runs both teams scored twice in the 8th inning; but the game was suspended after 17 innings with the score tied 3-3 due to a league rule prohibiting an inning from beginning after 12:59 a.m.

The game was continued the following evening, May 9, and both teams scored three times in the 21st inning to make the score 6-6; finally, in the bottom of the 25th, the White Sox’ Harold Baines hit a home run to end the contest. Tom Seaver was the winning pitcher in relief. (a regularly scheduled game followed, meaning both nights saw 17 innings played; Seaver also started, and won, the second game). The official time of the entire 25-inning game was 8 hours 6 minutes, also a major league record.

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The Shot is the name of the series-winning basket hit by Michael Jordan in Game 5 of the 1989 Eastern Conference First Round against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Coliseum at Richfield. It is considered to be one of Jordan’s greatest clutch moments, and in the game itself, a classic.

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In the sport of athletics, the four-minute mile is the act of completing the mile run (1,760 yards, or 1,609.344 metres) in less than four minutes. It was first achieved in 1954 by Roger Bannister in 3:59.4. The “four minute barrier” has since been broken by many male athletes, and is now the standard of all male professional middle distance runners. In the last 50 years the mile record has been lowered by almost 17 seconds. Running a mile in four minutes translates to a speed of 15 miles per hour (24.14 km/h, or 2:29.13 per kilometer, or 14.91 seconds per 100 meters).

Cy Young of the Boston Red Sox pitches the third perfect game of the major leagues. It was the first perfect game under modern rules.

Cy Young pitched a perfect game against the Philadelphia Athletics by retiring all 27 batters he faced. This event took place in the Huntington Avenue Grounds in Boston, Massachusetts, in front of 10,267 fans in attendance.

After Athletics’ pitcher Rube Waddell defeated Young on April 25 and one-hit Boston on May 2, Waddell taunted Young to face him so that he could repeat his performance against Boston’s ace. Three days later, Young pitched a perfect game against Waddell and the Athletics. The third perfect game in Major League Baseball history, Young’s perfect game was the first in baseball’s modern era and in American League history.

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