TODAY IN SPORTS HISTORY MAY 31

2008  Manny Ramirez hits his 500^th HR

2002  NJ Nets beat Celtics to advance to NBA finals

1999  Seattle ties MLB record with 58 HRs in May

1996  Atlanta beats Reds 9-1 – tie MLB record with 6 solo HRs

1991  NY Knicks name Pat Riley head coach

1989  Rookie Deion Sanders makes his MLB debut with NYY – will play in 641 games in 9 seasons - .262 average, 39 HRs, 168 RBI, 186 stolen bases

1987  Edmonton beats Flyers 4 games to 3 for Stanley Cup

1986  Wade Boggs of Red Sox goes 5 for 5 – average is .402 – ends season .357

1983  37^th NBA championship – Philadelphia sweeps LA Lakers – only lost 1 playoff game in 3 rounds

1983  George Steinbrenner is suspended 1 week for criticizing the umpires

1981  Dodgers go over 1 million in attendance in 22 games    

1979  Pat Underwood makes MLB debut for Tigers and gets 1-0 win beating his brother Tom of Toronto – Pat will appear in 113 games and be 13-18 with 4.43 ERA in 4 seasons, Tom 379 games 86-87, 3.89 ERA in 11 seasons

1970  White Sox beat Boston 22-13 – total 40 hits in the game

1969  Montreal loses its 15^th straight game – record 11-32

1968  Don Drysdale beats Giants 3-0 – 5^th straight shutout to tie MLB record set in 1904

1964  Mets play Giants in a double header – 2^nd game is 23 innings, 1^st is 9 – 32 innings and 47 total strikeouts is double header record – Mets struck out 22 times in 2^nd game (record)

1943  Joe Namath born – 27,663 passing yards, 173 TDs, 1^st 4,000 yard passer in 1967, Super Bowl MVP

1938  Lou Gehrig plays in his 2,000^th consecutive game

1937  Carl Hubbell loses – had won 24 straight over 2 seasons

1927  Rookie Jimmie Foxx hits his 1^st MLB HR – ends with 534