This day in sports: Yankees great Lou Gehrig ends his ironman streak

Lou Gehrig took himself out of the New York Yankees’ starting lineup on this date in 1939, against the Detroit Tigers at Briggs Stadium, telling manager Joe McCarthy that he was “doing it for the good of the team.”

The decision ended “The Iron Horse’s” 14-year streak of 2,130 consecutive games played, which was a major league record until it was broken by Cal Ripken Jr. on Sept. 6, 1995.

Gehrig was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, now called Lou Gehrig’s Disease, and was forced to retire a few weeks later.

Saturday’s Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., was postponed by the COVID-19 pandemic, but it has been rescheduled for Sept. 5.

The Dodgers and the Angels were both ready to play Saturday night, the Dodgers against the Padres in San Diego and the Angels at home against the Minnesota Twins.

In Major League Soccer, the Galaxy and Portland Timbers would have met at Providence Park in Portland. LAFC had a match scheduled at Banc of California Stadium against Sporting Kansas City.

Here is a look at memorable games and outstanding sports performances on this date:

1904 — Mrs. Charles Durnell is the first woman to own a Kentucky Derby starter and winner when long-shot Elwood, with jockey Frank Prior aboard, wins the 30th Run for the Roses. Elwood is also the first Derby winner to be bred by a woman, Mrs. J.B. Prather, and is the first and only winner from Missouri.

1917 — Fred Toney of the Cincinnati Reds and James “Hippo” Vaughn of the Chicago Cubs pitch a double no-hitter for nine innings, but the Reds win 1-0 with two hits off Vaughn in the 10th, one of them by Jim Thorpe who drives in the winning run.

1964 — Northern Dancer, ridden by Bill Hartack, wins the Kentucky Derby by a neck over Hill Rise in a race record 2:00. Northern Dancer is the first Canadian-bred horse to win the Derby. Hill Rise, ridden by Bill Shoemaker, finishes more than three lengths ahead of third-place The Scoundrel.

1970 — Diane Crump, 21, becomes the first woman jockey to ride in the Kentucky Derby. Her mount, a chestnut colt named Fathom, finishes 15th in a field of 17. Dust Commander, with Mike Manganello in the saddle, wins the race.

1995 — Hideo Nomo of the Dodgers becomes the first Japanese native to play in the major leagues since Masanori Murakami in 1965. Nomo pitches five scoreless innings of one-hit ball, but the Dodgers blow a 3-0 lead in the 15th inning at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park and lose to the Giants 4-3.

2001 — James Hylton, a 28-year-old construction worker from Salem, Ore., bowls the fifth perfect 900 series in the 106-year history of the sport. Hylton rolls three consecutive 300 games on the opening night of the AMF Firebird Lanes’ Super Bowl league.

2002 — Mike Cameron hits four homers in consecutive at-bats and comes close to a record-setting fifth in leading the Seattle Mariners to a 15-4 victory over the White Sox at Chicago’s Comiskey Park. Cameron and Bret Boone are the first teammates to both hit two home runs in the same inning.

2002 — Patrick Lalime is the 14th goalie in NHL history to record four shutouts in one postseason with his 27-save performance in the Ottawa Senators’ 5-0 defeat of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Lalime had shut out the Philadelphia Flyers three times in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.

2009 — Mine That Bird, ridden by Calvin Borel, stuns the field by winning the Kentucky Derby with a dynamic stretch run through the mud. Borel finds room along the rail in the stretch then pulls away to give the 50-1 long shot one of the biggest upsets in the 135-year history of the Run for the Roses. Pioneerof The Nile holds off Musket Man for second.

2010 — Ryo Ishikawa shoots a 12-under-par 58 — the lowest score ever on a major tour — to win the Crowns tournament in Togo, Japan. The 18-year-old Ishikawa makes 12 birdies in his bogey-free round on the 6,545-yard Nagoya Golf Club course. It is Ishikawa’s seventh Japan Tour title.

Sources: The Times, Associated Press