July 26, 2005 – Greg Maddux became the 13th member of the 3000 strikeout club

July 26, 2005 – Greg Maddux struck out Omar Vizquel to become the thirteenth member of the 3000 strikeout club.

Maddux became only the ninth pitcher with both 300 wins and 3,000 strikeouts, having reached both marks against the San Francisco Giants. Maddux finished as one of the four pitchers to top 3,000 strikeouts while having allowed fewer than 1,000 walks (he had 999). The other three pitchers who have accomplished this feat are Ferguson Jenkins, Curt Schilling, and Pedro Martínez. Maddux would pitch for three more seasons and end his career with 3,371 strikeouts.

July 15, 1999 – Barry Bonds is walked intentionally for a record 294th time

The Career Intentional Walks record was re-established every year from 1955 until Hank Aaron retired in 1976, recording 293 Intentional Base on Balls (IBB). Barry Bonds broke the record in the 1999 season, then preceded to obliterate it by 395 walks over the remaining eight years of his career.

Bonds’ lead in this category is so astounding that adding Aaron at #2 (293) and Willie McCovey at #3 (260) together is 95 walks short of Bonds’ record. Bonds also holds the single-season record at 120 walks. The next closest non-Bonds season is McCovey with 45.

Interesting Fact:
With two outs in the 9th inning of a game against the Arizona Diamondbacks on May 28, 1998, Bonds became only the fifth player in baseball history to be given an intentional walk with the bases loaded.

“In order to excel, you must be completely dedicated.” – Willie Mays

“Boxing is the ultimate challenge. There’s nothing that can compare to testing yourself the way you do every time you step in the ring.” – Sugar Ray Leonard

Mar. 25, 1958 – Sugar Ray Robinson defeats Carmen Basilio to regain middleweight championship

It was the fifth and final title of his career.

Robinson is considered by many to be the greatest prizefighter in history. No less an authority than heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali has said, “My idol will always be Sugar Ray Robinson, who was, and remains, one of the best pound-for-pound fighters to have ever lived in this century.”

In 1957 Robinson lost the title to Carmen Basilio, a steady puncher whose claim to fame was that he had never been knocked down. Going into their championship rematch, held March 25 in 1958, the once-indomitable Sugar Ray was a 2-to-1 underdog.

Robinson and Basilio traded punches for the majority of the match, with Robinson closing Basilio’s left eye completely by the seventh round. (Basilio later said that he could not see after the fourth round.) In the ninth round, Basilio came out attacking, and Robinson stopped slugging and started to box, dancing and jabbing at Basilio. This was the last great fight of Robinson’s career, and he showcased all of his veteran skills, avoiding Basilio’s punches and delivering a stunner in the 15th that nearly knocked Basilio down. In the end, the three judges awarded Robinson the victory and his fifth middleweight title, a record for any men’s division.

Video of Sugar Ray Robinson vs. Carmen Basilio II:
Part 1/2
Part 2/2

About Sugar Ray Robinson:
Robinson began began boxing after three years of high school in New York City. He was 85-0 as an amateur with 69 of those victories coming by way of knockout, 40 in the first round. Robinson won the Golden Gloves featherweight title and turned professional in 1940. He won the welterweight championship in 1946 by defeating Tommy Bell and the middleweight championship for the first time in 1951 by knocking out Jake La Motta. When Robinson retired from boxing as middleweight champion in 1952 he had lost only three times in 137 bouts.

Returning to boxing in 1955, he was the first boxer ever to regain a title after retiring. Robinson became the first man in boxing history to win a divisional (weight class) world championship five times when he regained the middleweight title in 1958 by defeating Carmen Basilio; he lost the title in 1960 to Paul Pender. In his prime, the swift, hard-punching Robinson was rated the best boxer, pound for pound, of his time.