THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY: 6/26

1819 – Abner Doubleday, the man largely credited with inventing baseball, is born.

1916 – The White Sox and Indians play in a game where the players had numbers on their sleeves, making it the first game that players were identified by numbers.

1944 – The New York Giants, Brooklyn Dodgers, and New York Yankees play against each other in a six inning game that was a war bonds fundraiser. The final score was Dodgers 5, Yankees 1 and Giants 0.

1970 – Frank Robinson hits two grand slams in a Baltimore Orioles rout of the Washington Senators.

1979 – Muhammad Ali announces his retirement as world heavyweight champion.

1982 – The LaPorte Slicers won the baseball state championship with a 7-1 victory over Roncalli.

1990 – At age 14, Jennifer Capriati becomes the youngest winner of a match in Wimbledon history.

1991 – The Charlotte Hornets select UNLV forward Larry Johnson with the first overall pick in the NBA Draft.

1993 – Eddie Murray, then with the Mets, becomes the 20th player in MLB history to record 1,600 RBIs.

1996 – The Philadelphia 76ers draft Georgetown guard Allen Iverson with the #1 overall pick in the NBA Draft.

1999 – Sammy Sosa hits career home run #300.

2002 – Yao Ming, a center from China, is the first overall pick in the NBA Draft, going to the Houston Rockets.

2003 – The top five of the NBA Draft is full of future starts with LeBron James going #1 to Cleveland, Carmelo Anthony going #3 to Denver, Chris Bosh #4 to Toronto and Dwyane Wade #5 to Miami. The Pistons took Darko Milicic second overall. Milicic averaged six points and four rebounds per game for his career, last playing in 2013.

2008 – The Bulls draft future MVP Derrick Rose with the first overall pick in the NBA Draft.

2014 – Kansas forward Andrew Wiggins is the first pick in the NBA Draft, going to Cleveland. He never plays for the Cavs as he’s traded to Minnesota before the season starts. Lake Central grad Glenn Robinson III goes #40 overall to the Timberwolves.