5 Amazing Independence Day Victories

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July 4^th is a day for memories and that does not exclude sports.

Baseball trumps all by far when you review some of the feats that we have witnessed.

The NHL, NFL and the NBA are excluded from play thanks to their schedule, but that does not grant MLB an exclusive license to our day of independence.

Here are five of the greatest moments that have occurred on July 4^th.

#5 Dave Righetti Pitches the First Yankee No-Hitter In 27 Years

The New York Yankees are not the kind of team that suffers long droughts of positive production. Yet, there was a 27-year stretch where the club did not have a pitcher that racked up a no-hitter.

In 1983, Dave Righetti dominated their most extreme rival the Boston Red Sox in a contest that shook him to the core.

“I turned around and I was just glad it was over,” Righetti recalled last year.  “It was very hot and I threw a lot of pitches obviously. I didn’t feel like jumping around or anything.”

Righetti whose nickname is “Rags,” is the current pitching coach for the San Francisco Giants.  He told the New York Times that he still feels connected to the performance.

“I think, when you’re out of the game, you don’t think about it as much. But, when the game is in front of you all the time and you’re still involved with pitching, you constantly think about it.”

“Obviously, I covet it even more now,” Righetti said. “I always thought I was going to go back and start. I kind of had the feeling like, you’re just going to go into the bullpen until we find somebody to do the closer’s job and you’ll go back. I thought maybe I’d have another shot at it.”

In an era that pre-dated international cable TV, the internet and the dreaded 24-hour news cycle, when you hear most people discuss Righetti’s feat you often hear them discuss how they and a few others gathered around a radio and enjoyed a piece of American history being made.

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