July 7 in Sports History: 17-year-old Boris Becker wins Wimbledon

In 1985: 17-year-old Boris Becker of Germany became the youngest player to ever win the men’s singles title at Wimbledon. He defeated Kevin Curran of the United States in four sets. Not only was Becker the youngest, he was the first German and the first unseeded player to win the tournament in its 108-year history.

In 2000: We here on Sportscolumn blog have always been suckers for those goofy minor league baseball promotions, and perhaps one of the best ever occurred on this date in 2000. It always seems the lower class of affiliation, the better the promotion. The Class A Butte Copper Kings, an Anaheim Angels farm club of the Pioneer League, did not let us down that year by hosting “John Rocker Awareness Night.” This meant that any of the people that Rocker insulted in his infamous Sports Illustrated interview would gain free admission to the game. The Copper Kings set a record for attendance that evening with 672 (hey, it’s only Class A); as people with purple hair, “alternative lifestyles,” single moms and foreigners attended for free.