May 9 in sports history: A Mother's Day special

EDDIE! EDDIE!

1987: Eddie Murray was long known as one of the best switch-hitters in Major League Baseball, but he rewrote the record books on this date.

In a 15-6 win over the Chicago White Sox, Murray became the first player in MLB history to homer from both sides of the plate for a second consecutive day. During his 21-year career, he accomplished the feat in a game 11 times.

Murray, whose 504 career home runs rank second in MLB history among switch-hitters, only trailing Mickey Mantle's 536, was a man of few words. After the game, he refused to comment on his prodigious day at the plate.

He let his manager, Cal Ripken Sr., do the talking for him. 

"Eddie's swinging the bat good now," Orioles manager Cal Ripken Jr. said. "He did something that nobody ever did. He's in a streak now and that happens with home run hitters. We've seen this with Eddie before."

2009: He'd go on to top his performance by two points just 11 days later, but LeBron James was rarely as good in the playoffs as he was this date. James had 47 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists in a Eastern Conference semifinals win over the Atlanta Hawks.

The win gave the Cavaliers their seventh straight double-digit playoff win, snapping a mark set by the 2004 Indiana Pacers.

As usual, James was the deciding factor.

"He took the ball, put it in his hands and said he was going to score for us, so I told him, 'OK," Cleveland coach Mike Brown said after the game. "I just told everyone else, 'Let's defend.'"

And they did, holding the Hawks to 44.7 percent shooting while winning the rebounding battle over Atlanta, 46-23.

2016: A game-time decision heading into a crucial Game 4 with the Trail Blazers, Steph Curry decided to persevere despite a right knee sprain, and, boy, did it pay off for the Warriors.

Curry had 40 points off the bench, including an NBA playoffs-record 17 in overtime, to guide the Warriors to a 132-125 win over Damian Lillard and the Blazers.

Curry was absent from the first three games in the matchup, including the Warriors' Game 3 loss. He did not play until the 5:58 mark but went on to dominate down the stretch.

“It took me a while to get in a groove, but i finally found one," Curry told TNT after the game.

IT'S A LONG STORY

1984: Ernie Banks was fond of saying, “Let’s Play Two!” but even he couldn’t have bargained for what the Chicago White Sox and Milwaukee Brewers labored through. The teams played 34 innings in two days. Following the conclusion of an eight-hour, six-minute, 25-inning marathon from the night before, the teams played a nine-inning game. 

The victor of both games?

Legendary pitcher Tom Seaver.

"If you're going to play them that long, you might as well win them," Seaver said afterward.

After pitching the final inning of the first game, Seaver again worked the Brewers over, allowing just three hits — two home runs, though — in 8 1/3 innings in a 5-4 win.

GRAND SLAM MAN

1961: Baltimore’s Jim Gentile hit a grand slam in back-to-back at-bats in the first and second innings to lift the Orioles to a 13-5 win over Minnesota. He was the first in MLB history to hit grand slams in successive at-bats. 

"Even a blind hog can find an acorn once in a while," Gentile told the Baltimore Sun. "Remember this when I start going bad." 

Gentile finished the season with 46 homers and ended up third in the MVP voting, behind Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris.

ALSO

1971: One of the great early long-distance runners, Elizabeth Bonner set a world record for the marathon in Philadelphia at the AAU Easter Regional Championships, finishing in 3 hours, 1 minute and 42 seconds. Later that year, she won the New York City Marathon, and her time of 2:55:22 was credited as the first sub-three-hour marathon by a woman. Tragically, she was struck and killed by a truck while biking in 1998.

2011: Call it the low point of American tennis: For the first time in the 38-year history of the ATP and WTA tennis rankings, no American man or woman ranked in the top 10. On the men’s side, Mardy Fish and Andy Roddick were Nos. 11 and 12, respectively. Serena and Venus Williams were ranked Nos. 17 and 19, respectively, on the women's list.

2013: Manchester United announced the hiring of former Everton manager David Moyes to take over the helm from the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson. Less than a year later — April 22, 2014 — United fired Moyes, his tenure going down as the third-shortest in team history and the shortest in 82 years. 

Happy birthday ...

• Lane Kiffin, the controversial Ole Miss head coach, who had high-profile flameouts with USC and Oakland Raiders (45). 
• Steve Yzerman, the Detroit Red Wings’ 10-time All-Star, who ranks in the top-10 in NHL history in goals (692) and assists (1,063)  (55).
• Prince Fielder, the former slugging first baseman for the Milwaukee Brewers, who assumed the mantle as MLB’s beefiest big bat from his father, Cecil. The 2011 All-Star Game MVP led the National League with 50 home runs in 2007 and was a six-time All-Star (36).

R.I.P. 

2009: Chuck Daly, the Hall of Fame NBA head coach, who guided the “Bad Boys” Pistons to back-to-back titles in 1989 and ’90. Daly also coached the 1992 Olympic “Dream Team” and later coached the Nets and Magic. He is featured prominently in “The Last Dance," ESPN’s documentary on the Michael Jordan-led Bulls.

May 8: A day Hunter didn't need to fish for compliments.