Sign in Subscribe

Brad Riddell

Abebe Bikila crossing the finish line barefoot at the 1960 Rome Olympic marathon, arms outstretched

On This Date: Abebe Bikila Runs Barefoot Past His Country's Stolen Obelisk (Sept. 10, 1960)

On this date in 1960, at 5:30 in the evening, 69 runners left the Capitoline Hill in Rome and set out on an Olympic marathon designed to finish after dark. Hundreds of Italian soldiers lined the route holding torches. Twenty-six miles later, a 28-year-old Ethiopian corporal

1986-87 Fleer #57 Michael Jordan rookie card

The 10 Best Rookie Cards in 1986-87 Fleer — the Set That Caught a Whole Lost Generation

Here's the strangest fact about the most important basketball card set ever made: not one player in it was actually a rookie. The 1986-87 Fleer set is 132 cards, and it contains the recognized rookie card of Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone,

Willie McCovey swinging for the San Francisco Giants

The 10 Greatest Late-Summer Debuts in Baseball History

On Aug. 15, a 23-year-old Cardinals outfielder named Joshua Báez walked into Wrigley Field for his first major league game and homered on the first pitch he saw — 449 feet to dead center. Then he homered again. Then he homered a third time. Nobody in the history of

Arthur Ashe with his father, Arthur Ashe Sr., at the 1968 US Open trophy ceremony at Forest Hills

On This Date: Arthur Ashe Wins the First US Open — and Can't Accept the Check (Sept. 9, 1968)

On this date in 1968, at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, a 25-year-old Army lieutenant on leave from West Point won the very first US Open — the first American Grand Slam of the "Open era," when professionals were finally allowed in. Arthur Ashe

The 10 Best Multi-Player Rookie Cards: Superstars Who Shared Their Debut

The 10 Best Multi-Player Rookie Cards: Superstars Who Shared Their Debut

For decades, Topps hedged its bets on rookies the same way: cram three or four unproven kids onto one card — floating heads, tiny names, a "Rookie Stars" banner — and let history sort them out. Usually history sorted them into obscurity. But every so often, one of those heads

On This Date: Bob Feller Wins No. 20 at Age 20 — a Record Built to Last 46 Years (Sept. 8, 1939)

On This Date: Bob Feller Wins No. 20 at Age 20 — a Record Built to Last 46 Years (Sept. 8, 1939)

On this date in 1939, a 20-year-old farm kid from Van Meter, Iowa, went the distance against the St. Louis Browns at Sportsman's Park, scattering 5 hits in a 12-1 stroll. Nothing about the game itself was historic — Bob Feller struck out only 5 that

10 College Football Coaches Who Stayed Too Long

10 College Football Coaches Who Stayed Too Long

On Sept. 5, LSU hung 51 points on Clemson — 644 yards to 145 — in the worst loss of Dabo Swinney's 18 years in Death Valley, and by the fourth quarter a familiar question was trending: has Dabo stayed too long? It's the cruelest arc in the