Scott Harper Gets His Fifteen Minutes Of Fame

 On August 9, 2005, in the 8th inning of a Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees game, 18 year-old Scott Harper got his fifteen minutes fame. 

Much like Patrick Lawler, a man who received notoriety because he didn't know he had a nail in his skull for four months, Scott Harper will not be remembered as "Scott Harper." He'll be remembered as the guy who dove 40 feet off the upper deck of Yankee Stadium and lived to tell about it.
Harper's fall ended when he crashed into the safety net behind home plate. The local YES telecast rattled as the net vibrated the camera line. The game temporarily came to a stop; everyone in the stadium watched as the kid, who was visibly shaken up, began to climb up the net towards the middle section of Yankee Stadium. Harper received a thunderous ovation from the crowd when he reached the seating area and was forcefully pulled away by security.

Harper left the stadium in a stretcher and was taken to a local hospital. When he was released the next day, Scott got a knock on his door from the police. Harper pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment and received three years of probation. Even worse, he was permanently banned from all future New York Yankee home games.

Scott told the police that he wanted to test if the net could hold him and that he was pretty drunk at the time. "It was just like a stupid dare," said one of the friends who went to the game with him. ESPN decided not to air the clip of him falling when they learned it was intentional. Yankees owner George Steinbrenner called the stunt, "the only exciting thing that happened today," noting that the Yankees lost the game, 2-1.
Harper's plunge was not the first time a fan had jumped onto the safety net; Stephen Laurenzi had pulled the same stunt back in 2000.

Three weeks after his dive, Harper was pulled over for speeding in a residential area. He was again arrested, this time for the possession of marijuana. And that was the last of his fifteen minutes of fame.

Toronto Blue Jays Play First Game

On April 7, 1977, the Toronto Blue Jays played their first ever regular season game, the attendance was 44,649 as the Jays took on the Chicago White Sox at Exhibition Stadium.

Exhibition Stadium in 1977 for the Toronto Blue Jays first ever regular season game.

The game was most remembered for the weather, which was cold and snowing at the time of the scheduled first pitch. However, snow would stop and the game would continue as planned.

The Jays would come out as the victor of the American League teams by a final score of 9-5.

The win for the Jays was one of just a few that year as they compiled a 54-107 record that year, 45.5 games behind the division winner Yankees.

Michael Jordan Sets Chicago Bulls Scoring Record

On Feb. 26, 1987, Michael Jordan's 58 points sets a new Chicago Bulls record for most points in a single game. While not his highest point total of his career for a single game, as he scored in the 60’s multiple times, including a 69-point game against the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1990.

Chicago Bulls shooting guard Michael Jordan in the 1987 NBA Dunk Contest.

This was however a highlight in Jordan’s career, which had many including winning six NBA Championships, being named the NBA Finals MVP all six times. He would win the regular seasons MVP five times, be named an All-Star 14-times, being named the MVP of the All-Star game three times. He was a 10 times NBA scoring champion, and three time NBA steals champion, being named to the All-NBA First team 10 times, NBA All-Defensive First team nine times and All-NBA Second team once. He was nominated to the NBA All-Rookie First Team and won the NBA Slam Dunk contest in back-to-back years in 1987 and 1988.

In 1988, Jordan was honored with the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year Award and became the first NBA player to win both the Defensive Player of the Year and MVP awards in a career (since equaled by Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, and Kevin Garnett; Olajuwon is the only player other than Jordan to win both during the same season).

In addition he set both seasonal and career records for blocked shots by a guard, and combined this with his ball-thieving ability to become a standout defensive player.

He ranks third in NBA history in total steals with 2,514, trailing John Stockton and Jason Kidd.

Jordan finished his career with 32,292 points, 6,672 rebounds and 5,633 assists.

The NBA selected Jordan to the NBA’s 50 Anniversary All-Time Team, and his no. 23 jersey was retired by the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat. Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year – 1991 Named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996 Ranked No.1 by SLAM Magazine's Top 50 Players of All-Time

In International play Jordan earned two Gold Medals with the “Dream Team” in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and 1992 Barcelona Olympics. He also won Gold on United State’s team in the 1992 FIBA Americas Championship and the 1983 Pan American Games.

In a 1999 ESPN poll, Jordan was ranked the greatest U.S. athlete of the Century.

Jordan is one of the most marketed sports figures in history. He has been a major spokesman for such brands as Nike, Coca-Cola, Chevrolet, Gatorade, McDonald's, Ball Park Franks, Rayovac, Wheaties, Hanes, and MCI. Jordan has had a long relationship with Gatorade, appearing in over 20 commercials for the company since 1991, including the "Like Mike" commercials in which children wishing to be like Jordan sang a song.

Jordan’s legacy went outside of basketball as Nike created a signature shoe for him, called the Air Jordan.

One of Jordan's more popular commercials for the shoe involved Spike Lee playing the part of Mars Blackmon. In the commercials Lee, as Blackmon, attempted to find the source of Jordan's abilities and became convinced that "it's gotta be the shoes.

The hype and demand for the shoes even brought on a spate of "shoe-jackings" where people were robbed of their sneakers at gunpoint. Subsequently Nike spun off the Jordan line into its own division named the "Jordan Brand". The company features an impressive list of athletes and celebrities as endorsers. The brand has also sponsored college sports programs such as those of North Carolina, Cincinnati, Cal, St. John's, Georgetown, and North Carolina A&T.

Jordan also has been associated with the Looney Tunes cartoon characters.

A Nike commercial shown during the 1993 Super Bowl XXVII featured Jordan and Bugs Bunny playing basketball against a group of Martian characters. The Super Bowl commercial inspired the 1996 live action/animated movie Space Jam, which starred Jordan and Bugs in a fictional story set during his first retirement. They have subsequently appeared together in several commercials for MCI.

In June 2010, Jordan was ranked by Forbes Magazine as the 20th most powerful celebrity in the world with $55 million earned between June 2009 and June 2010. According to the Forbes article, Jordan Brand generates $1 billion in sales for Nike.

A's Win Streak Reaches 19

On Sep. 2, 2002, the Oakland Athletics wins their nineteenth straight game, which tied an American League record set in 1906 by the Chicago White Sox and again in 1947 by the New York Yankees.

The A’s would go on to win 20 games, an American League record, which still stands today. 

 The winning streak is the fourth longest in Major League history behind only the pair of 21 game winning streaks the Chicago Cubs put together in 1880 and 1935, and the 26 game winning streak the New York Giants put together in 1916.

In 2011, the movie “Moneyball” featuring Brad Pitt as Athletics general manager Billy Beane was filmed at the Coliseum and around Oakland, and was based off the book “Moneyball” and the 20 game win streak the club put together in 2002.

Cobb Makes His Debut

On Aug. 30, 1905 Ty Cobb made his major league debut for the Detroit Tigers. Cobb was just 19 years old and played in 41 games in 1905. 

He would retire as the all-time hits leader, with 4,191 hits, now he second behind only Pete Rose. 

He still holds the career record for batting average with .367, in part to such a high batting average was his three seasons of hitting over .400, which is tied for a MLB record. 

But what is more impressive is that he only batted below .320 once. Now if you bat .319 you are awesome, to Cobb that was a poor season.

Cobb also won 12 batting titles, including nine in a row from 1907-1915, he also owns the most batting titles of all time. Cobb also has the most career steals of home, with 54.

Cobb remained with the Tigers until 1926, as he player managed the team from 1921-1926. Cobb played his final two years with the Philadelphia Athletics from 1927-1928.

Cobb was named to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team, and Cooperstown Hall of Fame in 1936 with 98.2 percent of the vote.